Relapse
by A Nordic Niche
Summary: "The stories may be different, but the end result is the always the same." Driven into a depression, the Nordic Countries have turned to the most destructive ways to get out of it. Rated M for rape, as well as lemons later on. Warning: Incest and yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

_Yeahhh buddy. I'm not dead._

_Incase it wasn't obvious with Dissolve, I'm currently obsessed with Hetalia: Axis Powers. And right now, more importantly, the Nordic Five. _

_Pairings in this chapter:_

_SuFin _

_LietPol (Somewhat)_

_NorIce (If you don't like incest, please leave.)_

_All of the Nordics are yanderes, even though it won't look like it for a while. I can't wait to write about Norway and Iceland –Shot-_

_Anyways, enjoy. Jeg elsker deg._

_~Yuuki_

* * *

"Heyyyy Estonia!"

Finland's overly cheery voice rang through the phone, making Estonia recoil a bit. "Uh, hi, Finland… How are you?" he asked tentatively. _Wow, he sounds happy…_

"I'm good, how are you?" Finland answered. Estonia shuddered. _Good _probably meant something the lines of _someone looked at me but then Sweden killed them with his eyes._"Great," he muttered. "Why'd you call?"

"Oh, nothing important, really. Just wanted to see if you can come over!'

Across the table from him, Lithuania shivered. Estonia shot him a look and replied "Well, sure, but won't Sve get mad?" He tried his best to keep his voice straight. Luckily, Finland seemed to not have noticed. "Oh, it's fine! I asked him, and he said as long as you didn't get too close to me, it's okay~!"

"Uh, well, hold on. I'll just ask if I can go and call you back, okay?" Estonia said, injecting a note of happiness in his voice. Fin laughed. "Gotcha! 'Kay, byeeee!"

There was a loud _click _and he hung up.

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia looked up at him. Estonia blinked. "Well?" he muttered, putting the phone down and looking back at them, his eyes flickering back and forth between them. "What do you guys think?"

"Yes, Poland?"

Poland grinned. "Well, I think this is like, the perfect opportunity for a peace talk with the Nordic Five, dont'cha think, Liet?" Lithuania startled at his name being called, but answered nonetheless. "Well, that's true, but we'd risk Estonia getting slaughtered, wouldn't we?" Latvia sighed. "It's now or never… It's up to you," he added, looking at Estonia half-heartedly.

_Now or never._

"I'm going."

* * *

The doorbell rung as Estonia hit it.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, a giggle, and the door swung wide open, revealing Finland.

Estonia gasped. His best friend's face and arms were wrapped in bandages- Some over his right eye, a few crisscrossing over his palms, one over his nose, and several around his fingers. "Hi, Estonia!" Finland said happily. He swept his friend into a weak hug. When Estonia pulled out of it, he looked at Finland, his eyes wide with shock. "Wh-what happened to you, Fin?" he asked, worried. Finland laughed. "Oh, this?" he asked, gesturing to his bandages. "You see, England called me weak one day and beat me up." He scratched his blond head, smiling as if it was nothing. "But luckily Sve was there, and now England is in Denmark's room! I wonder if he's still alive…"

_He makes it sound like he accidentally set the smoke alarm off when he was baking a cake or something,_ Estonia thought, stifling a shudder. "Oh," he said, unable to say anything else without blowing his cover. Finland grinned. "Where are my manners? Come inside!" he trilled, pulling Estonia inside and slamming the door shut. Sweden sat on the couch, drinking something and reading the newspaper. He glared up at Estonia as he came in. _If looks could kill, I'd be screwed,_he thought, smiling the best he could as Finland dropped a kiss on Sweden's cheek. "We'll be upstairs if you need us, Sve~!" he said, smiling. "Come on!"

Estonia followed Finland up the stairs and into the first room on the left. The door swung shut behind them. Fin plopped onto the bed. "So, how are your friends doing?" he asked. Estonia's heart skipped a beat. "You mean-"

"Yeah, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia! How are they?" Finland's tone sounded a little more menacing now, or maybe it was just Estonia's over-active imagination trying to find holes in his cover-up story. "Th-they're fine," he stuttered. "They're just, uh, bored, that's all. Nothing to do." Finland smiled for what seemed like the millionth time. "They could have come along, why didn't they?"

Estonia's heart thudded in his chest. "I don't know," he said quickly. "Hey, can I use the bathroom?" Finland tilted his head to the side a bit, his smile knowing now, his eyes narrowed. "Sure, it's the last one on the right." Heaving a sigh, Estonia left the room, and, looking behind him to make sure no one was following him, slipped into the door labeled _Denmark._

England sat there in the corner. Hearing Estonia's footsteps, he looked up, his green eyes wide. "D-don't hurt me, please," he stuttered out choking at the end of his sentence and coughing up a few drops of blood. Estonia's jaw dropped. _One of the most powerful countries on the planet- and here he is, totally vulnerable and nearly dead,_ he thought, taking a few steps towards said nation. "I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered, kneeling down in front of him and searching through his pockets for something to seal the multiple wounds on the side of his neck. His fingers grasped a roll of surgical tape- _how the hell did that get in here?_- and without hesitation, he pulled it out and began tending to England's cuts.

"Who did this to you?"

England laughed softly, drawing up some more blood. "Finland didn't tell you?" he rasped, grinning. "The only reason Den hasn't been kicked out of the Nordics is because he protects them all. Violently," he added, gesturing to his neck with a shaky hand. "I found Finland crying about…" He paused, his voice trailing off as he coughed again. "…Well, I don't really remember what it was, actually. I teased him a bit, called him a crybaby, and next thing you know, Den's right there and there's knife in the side of my neck." England laughed again, wiping away a fresh flow of blood from his mouth. "Why are you in here, anyway?" he asked, looking back up at Estonia, who sighed. "Finland invited me, and, uh, told me about what happened, and I made an excuse-"

"Thank god, you aren't one of them!" England exclaimed suddenly, making Estonia fumble for the surgical tape and drop it. He looked at England weirdly. "If I'm helping you, what makes you think I'm one of... One of them?" Truth be told, he'd been thinking of joining the Nordics for quite some time now; after all, his position as the strongest had been taken over by Poland when he'd butted into the Baltic Trio. England looked at the ground. "Well, that's true... But, bloody hell, if it hadn't been for Iceland and Finland coming in here and giving me food every once in a while, I'd be dead..."

Estonia was rather taken aback at that, and, for once, didn't know how to respond. England grinned weakly up at him. "Surprised?" Estonia nodded. "Heh, I can't say I expected help from any of them, honestly, but, here I am..." he choked again, this time on his own blood. Footsteps echoed through the hallway. England's eyes grew wide. "I- I think you should leave," he whispered urgently. "That sounds like Denmark."

"But-"

"_Go!"_

Not able to argue anymore, Estonia got up from his awkward kneeling position and threw open the door on the other side of the room. Stepping in and locking the door behind him, he turned to see what looked like it had once been a bathroom. If it hadn't been for the toilet, it would have been indistinguishable from, say, a butcher's cellar. Blood had been sprayed everywhere, the mirror was shattered, and Denmark's favorite axe was in the sink, water still flowing onto it from the tap. Stifling a Latvia-like squeal of horror, Estonia sat on the closed toilet, shaking with fear, hoping and praying that Denmark wouldn't notice the squeak the door had made when it had shut. Putting his ear to the door, he listened:

"Happy to see me?"

Denmark's voice was barely recognizable; it had dropped lower and was more husky now than it had been the last time Estonia had heard it. "What makes you think that?" England's voice was stronger now than it had been five minutes ago; it no longer broke, but it was still nothing compared to Denmark's. The other nation laughed softly, just as England had earlier, but this laugh was a_ hell _of a lot more creepy. "Come on! I even got you a drink..." The slosh of beer was heard, and England snorted. "You know quite well I gave up drinking when Alfred told me to stop!" he snapped. Denmark laughed that creepy laugh of his. "You know you want it," he hissed. There was another _slosh_and the sound of England choking for the umpteenth time. "Stop it, you git!" he choked out.

"Shush, you know yelling hurts baby Sealand's ears," Denmark said, making his voice squeaky. "And you how Mommy Finland and Daddy Sweden will get mad at you!"

"Shut up, dammit!" England growled, but his voice was quieter now, and it was shaking as well. "And you know what happens when you tell me to shut up, right?" Denmark said quietly. "Hmm, my axe is in the bathroom..." There was a few seconds of silence where Estonia could only hear the sound of his own heart thudding in his chest. "...But it's not clean... Aww, that's too bad, hmm? I guess I'll just deal with you later." Estonia heaved a sigh as Denmark's footsteps led out of the room. The door closed behind him, and Estonia deemed it safe to sneak out.

Opening the door, he slipped out, pausing to look at England, who sat in the corner, has hand over his neck. "Thank god he didn't get too mad, huh?" he muttered, looking up at Estonia, who was slightly surprised at the mirth in the other nation's voice. "Or that he didn't ask me why I had my hand right here the whole time... To drunk, I suppose..." He coughed. "Hey, look, no blood!" Sighing, England turned towards the one window in the room. "If only Alfred could see me now... You'd better go before the beer starts kicking in, I'll go mad when that happens." Heeding his words, Estonia got up to leave.

"Hey, Estonia... Thanks again."

* * *

Smiling, Estonia left the room, turning back towards the door labelled _Finland, Sealand, and Sweden._Finland looked up when he walked in. "You've been gone a while," he said, sounding slightly concerned. "You okay?" Estonia nodded quickly. "I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all," he said, trying his best to smile reassuringly. Finland grinned back. "Well, Poland called, and he said you should come back as soon as possible... I don't remember why, though." Getting up, Finland began walking out of the room. Estonia trailed him closely. "You should go, I think," Finland said suddenly. "Poland sounded worried, and I need to go pick up Sealand from school..." his voice trailed off. "Okay," Estonia said, relieved to have a legitimate reason to leave. "I'll go, then... Thank for having me over," he added hurriedly, waving goodbye to his friend and running down the stairs.

Norway sat on the couch downstairs, replacing Sweden. He blinked up at Estonia, frowning. "Were you in Denmark's room earlier?" he asked. Estonia's heart skipped a beat. "Wh-why do you ask?" he stuttered. Norway put his feet up on the coffee table. "England's muttering something about you," he murmured. "And I'm pretty sure he couldn't have made surgical tape, not in the state he's in." Smiling slightly, he went on. "It's okay if you were helping him," he added. "I don't like Denmark's idea of torture." Estonia, without meeting his gaze, muttered "Yes, I was helping him... Finland told me he was in there, and I couldn't help it, I had to do something..." Norway's smile grew. "He misses Alfred a lot, you know." The doorbell rang, and his smile turned into a grin. "That should be Iceland, took him long enough," he said, getting up to go answer it.

Iceland stood in the doorway, trailed closely by Poland. Poland seemed to be anxious to get to Estonia, as he was trying to push Iceland out of the way. "Stop it!" Iceland snapped. "I need to-" but he was cut off by Poland. "But I like, _need_ to talk to Estonia! I need to get him out of- Oh, yeah..." Poland covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes wide. "I need to ask you a question, like, right now. So Iceland, you should totally move and let him out." His silence lasted barely a second before he started yammering again. _Typical Poland, _Estonia thought, looking hesitantly at Iceland, willing him to move. Iceland just glared back at him, but moved over nonetheless. Norway grinned even wider. "C'mon in, _lillebror."_Iceland blushed, but came inside. "You should get going," Norway added, not bothering to turn around. "Come again."

And the door slammed shut, leaving Estonia to go at last.


	2. Relapse Finland

_Hello again._

_This chapter has a different format than the other chapters. It's called a relapse chapter, as it goes back in time a bit to explain something. This chapter explains a bit of Finland's past. _

_Kudos to Miss-Fr34k for giving me ideas for the rest of the story. Jeg elsker deg, stortbror!_

* * *

He'd been normal once, hadn't he?

_Had he?_

A few days ago, it had been normal. Finland had been planning for Sealand's birthday, baking a pie for dessert, when he'd realized there were no eggs to bake it with. "Where'd all the eggs go?" he wondered aloud, grabbing his jacket, ready to go on another shopping trip. He passed Sweden, who was sitting in front of his computer, typing endlessly. "Hey, Sve?" he asked, poking the man on the shoulder. Sweden looked up at Finland. "Hmm?"

"There's no eggs, so I'm going to the store to get some, okay?" he said, putting on his light blue jacket and looking back at Sweden for a response. The nation in question nodded. "St'y safe, F'ny." Finland smiled. "I will, just don't let Sealand in the kitchen, okay?"

"G't it."

He'd gone outside in the rain, deciding to walk to the store. It wasn't too far, and Finland liked the rain. It was... Refreshing, somehow. He hummed, deliberately splashing in every puddle he saw. He was reminding himself of Sealand to some extent, laughing and dancing in the rain like a little kid. Oh, how he'd loved his childhood. There had been nothing to care about, everyone else did it for him; he'd spent his days playing with the other Nordics, especially Sweden.

_"Sve~!"_

_"H'y, F'ny."_

Finland smiled; he was getting sentimental now. Sweden had called him the same thing for as long as he could remember. _F'ny._ He didn't say much, really, but when he did, it filled Finland with joy, no matter what it was. _Well, almost, anyway._There had been that one time...

_"F'ny?"_

_"Hallo, Sve! What is it?"_

"I..."

Finland had frowned at that second. Something was wrong, he knew it was. Even with his intimidating exterior, it had become quite easy for Finland to pick out different emotions in him. _"What's wrong, Sve?" _he'd asked, concerned. Sweden avoided his gaze. _"'M at w'r," _he muttered.

_"Why? With who?"_

Finland's eyes widened as he saw how sad Sweden looked. _"D'nm'rk," _he whispered, looking back up at Finland. _"He g't mad 't me f'r w'rking with Fr'nce." _In the present, Finland sighed. The war had ended without any side really winning, and both sides had suffered losses. He remembered Sweden, Denmark, and Norway all coming back with bruises and cuts; Iceland had bounced over to his big brother to ask what had happened, and Finland had gone to help Sweden patch up his wounds. They had been very divided then, but it had changed, and Finland was glad it had.

He walked into the store's parking lot, smiling to himself as he splashed into another puddle. Walking in, he poked around until he found the eggs. "Hey, Finland, is that you?" Finland turned to see Norway standing across the aisle from him, and Iceland reaching up to a shelf above them for some yogurt. Finland waved at them. "Hi guys! What are you doing here, you could have just told me you were running out, I was on my way to get eggs for-" He broke off as Sealand appeared behind them, running straight towards him. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" he yelled. "I was wondering where you were, Daddy said you left, and then Norway and Iceland and Den-"

"Shh!" Iceland hissed, clamping a hand over Sealand's mouth. The micronation was obviously still talking; Finland could hear muffled yelling from behind Iceland's hand. "We don't want Denmark to find us," he growled. "We ditched him on purpose, you know." Glaring at Sealand, he added, "Now will you keep it down?" When the boy nodded, he pulled his hand away from his mouth. "Why are you getting eggs, Mommy? There was a carton full of them in the fridge..." Finland frowned. "They weren't there when I checked," he muttered. Norway looked at him. "Did you check behind the Dane's beer?" he asked, his voice staying monotone as always. Finland sighed. "No, I didn't..." Smiling at Norway he waved goodbye to them; after all, his reason for being there in the first place was no longer valid.

A few aisles later, he ran into Denmark. "Hey, Fin!" he yelled, waving and grinning as usual. "You seen Norway and Iceland 'round here?" Finland remembered that they were trying to ditch him. As much as he didn't want to lie, he knew Denmark would tell the two brothers that Finland had told him where they were, and that would lead to the two of them yelling at him (or, at least, Iceland would be yelling at him while Norway would be trying to calm him down). "No, I haven't," Finland replied at last, cringing internally but ignoring it. Denmark seemed not to notice, as he was still grinning at him. "Well, dammit!" he said, his grin turning into a pout not unlike what Finland saw on Sealand's face when he wanted something he couldn't have. "They said they were getting flour, but I couldn't find them... Well, see you, Fin!" And with a wave, the older Nordic was off.

Finland walked quickly out of the store after that, wanting to get home before the others did, not wanting to risk the fate of Sealand's surprise birthday party, which was tomorrow. He dug his hands into his pockets, twitching his nose a bit as the wind picked up, blowing his hair forward into his face. He bent to avoid the rain, flicking away a raindrop every so often.

And that's when England stopped him.

"Hello, Finland," he said, grinning. He would have looked like Denmark if it wasn't for the absence of emotion in his eyes; Denmark, on the other hand, had been full of happiness when he'd seen Finland. Said nation smiled warily back at England. "Hi, England, what is it?" he asked, subconsciously curling his hands into fists. The taller nation just kept grinning. "How's Sealand doing?" England asked. Finland fidgeted. "He's fine," he replied, his smile widening a little at the mention of his adopted son. "His birthday's next week, so I went to the store to get some eggs for his cake, but it turns out I didn't see the ones hidden behind- Wh-what are you doing?"

England had pulled a knife out of his pocket; it was long and very sharp, with the words _Bloody Hell _inscribed into the hilt. "I just want to remind you that Sealand is _my_land, and therefore I'd like him back under my control," England said. The grin had become plastered to his face. Finland's eyes widened, and he started to back away. "B-but... Sve adopted him... You h-had nothing against it then-"

"That was then."

And he advanced, thrusting the knife into Finland's left hand and clamping a hand over his mouth. Finland let out a muffled scream as he watched the blood draining from his hand; it had only moments before been perfectly fine- The blade made a wild swipe over his right eye, cleaving the delicate skin there wide open. Finland could feel the dull ache in his hand now, but it was nothing to how his heart wrenched when he saw the blind fury in England's eyes. The other nation's hand flew of his mouth and collided with his jaw, making Finland scream again. "No, stop it, stop it, _stop-"_

"F'ny? 'S that you?" Sweden's voice came out of nowhere; Finland would have looked at him in desperation, but he was blinded by the blood that had trickled into his eyes. His voice was hoarse from screaming at England, but he let out one last word- _"Sve!"_ -Before his vocal cords gave out completely. Tears were flowing from his eyes; at least, he _thought _they were tears, they might have just as well been blood flowing from his newly broken nose. "Oh hello, Sweden. Me and your _wife_here were just discussing about Sealand." England's voice sounded distant, but when Sweden replied, it was anything but.

"G't off," he snarled. There was the sound of rapid footsteps, and England's weight was lifted off of him. Then there was the sound of Sweden's fist slamming into the other nation's chest. England's laughter was as distant as his voice, but still it chilled Finland to the core. "I'm not going anywhere until you give back what's mine!" he yelled. Sweden snorted. "He isn't y'r's," he growled. "Y' g've S'l'nd to us, th'r's no way h's going b'ck." The was another dull crunching noise as England's jaw broke, and yet another as his head hit the pavement of what Finland realized only then was a dark alley.

Footsteps sounded again; by then, Finland was tired of hearing, tired of keeping his head up, tired of living. It might have not seemed like it then, but something inside him had snapped; something that had been held up by one thin string for so long.

_"Finland's a crybaby!"_

_"God, what an idiot. Can't even point out his own country on a map."_

_"Why would Sweden care for someone that stupid?"_

"Stop it," he whispered, choking as his abused voice gave out again. _I'm not stupid, I'm not weak, I'll show them, stop it, I'll hurt you, and then we'll see who's laughing!_

One last strangled laugh and his consciousness faded.

England didn't know where he was or who was holding him. The only thing he knew is that Sweden hadn't killed him. _Barely_hadn't killed him. And judging by the pain that help him captive to this half-sleep, he would have much rather been dead.

He was dropped carelessly onto the floor and left there. His eyes flicked open. A tall man with wild blond hair and blue eyes stood in front of him, smirking. "So, you're the one who beat Finland up, huh?" he murmured. "Don't look like much, really. But then again, you kinda caught him off-guard..." The man scratched his head. "Who the bloody hell are you?" England spluttered, trying to back away but running into the wall instead. The man laughed. "I was about to ask you the same thing," he muttered. "But, anyway. My name's Denmark, and I can't really say I'm glad to meet you, but fuck it." Denmark thrust his hand into England's face, obviously for him to shake. He took it weakly, only to have it crushed in the tall Nordic's strong grip.

"I'm England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland, to be exact," he replied stiffly, his voice cracking. Denmark raised and eyebrow. "England, huh? Thought you'd know better than to mess with the Nordics. You see," he added, "When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" Smiling, he went on. "We're gonna have to keep you here for a while, see. Sweden looked like he'd want to strangle you and then put you in a blender, but, y'know, I thought we could give you some sort of a chance."

"Besides, you're held on ransom, anyway."

_"What?" _England was shocked. Denmark laughed. "Hell yeah! The only way we're letting you go is if someone happens to give us about a billion dollars, or Euros, or whatever." England's eyes widened. "D-don't you think that would really hurt that person's economy?" he asked, still confused. Denmark grinned. "My point exactly. Someone's really going to have to give up quite a bit to get you," he said loudly. His voice crashed against England's ears, and he slumped forward. _Who would care about me that much?_he thought. Suddenly, the stinging pain of his wounds turned into more of a piercing pain. Denmark sighed. "Don't worry. Someone'll come along. Now get some sleep, it's 1:00 in the morning!" He pointed to the bed in the middle of the room. "That's my bed, but I generally sleep on the couch downstairs... So, good night~!"

And he was gone.

"F'ny?"

Oh, god, it felt horrible.

Finland was stuck in a weird kind of half-trance, part sleeping but part awake. The thoughts he hated were rushing through his head at the speed of light, and he wanted it to stop. Far off, he could hear Sweden calling him; his voice was as distant as England's had been earlier. Everything about himself and the surroundings he couldn't see seemed broken- His heart, his mind, his arm, and Sweden's voice. At last, he opened his eyes- Well, his one good eye, anyway.

The four other Nordics were leaning over him. Through his left eye, he could see Sweden's concerned face and Denmark's wide grin. Norway and Iceland stood on his other side, his blind side. Finally, Denmark opened his mouth.

"How'd you feel, Fin?"

Finland wasn't sure he could answer that truthfully without Sweden having a heart attack. After all, he'd saved Finland; if he wasn't okay, then Sve's entire purpose for saving him was defeated. "I'm fine," he tried, pushing his broken voice to its' limits so that they could hear him. "It hurts, but I'm fine." In fact, he didn't feel so bad. The pain itself had dulled quite a bit in the time he'd been 'asleep', but that wasn't what he was talking about.

All of those thoughts...

_"You're so stupid!"_

_"Idiot doesn't even know where his country is."_

...Had vanished.

Finland smiled. _I can get used to this,_he thought. "Is Sealand okay?" he whispered. Sweden put a hand on his shoulder. "H's fine," he said, pushing Finland back down as he tried to get up. "Engl'nd won't g't h'm, h's safe." Finland sighed with relief. "Where's England now?"

"My room. He'll be fine," Denmark said, grinning. "Besides, it's not like we're letting him go." Norway suddenly popped up in Finland's field of vision, his face set. "There's a spell around the Dane's room to make sure he can't get out, and it's not like we're about to let him." Finland was glad they'd go through that much trouble to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone. _They care so much._

_Don't they?_

* * *

__**Well that was the crappiest ending ever. But at least it's a cliffhanger. The part where England beats Finland up was so hard to write without making dying whale noises OTL. ANYWAY. The next chapter might be a while because I'm in the process of hurrying to finish my summer math, but until then, jeg elsker deg~!**

**-Yuuki**


	3. Chapter 2

_I'm backkkk._

_This chapter took forever to write... I have my reasons._

_Pairings in this chapter:_

_LietPol_

_(One-sided) DenNor_

_(One-sided) NorIce_

_Warning. The rating moved up for reasons as well. _

_Again thanks to Miss-Fr34k for this chapter. Elsker deg, stortbror._

-Kara-chan

* * *

"You couldn't have done that any less subtly, could you?"

Poland was practically dragging Estonia away from the Nordics' home. He hadn't said anything so far, which was quite unlike him, but the dragging was a different story. "Let me go already!" Estonia said, irritated. At last, Poland stopped abruptly, making Estonia crash into him and fall over. He started to pace back and forth, muttering something indistinct as he did so. Estonia frowned up at him. "You okay, Poland?" he asked. Poland didn't respond; he kept pacing as though he hadn't heard.

Now Estonia was really confused. Not only was he not yelling at him, Poland was pacing. _Pacing._Whenever the crossdressing nation needed to think, he'd always yell his thoughts out into every other countries' ears (mostly Lithuania's, but that wasn't really a problem). "Poland. Hello? You're starting to look insane."

That stopped him.

"I'm not insane! Like, what's wrong with you, Estonia? I'm just thinking!" Poland said at last, his green eyes wide. "I'm not turning into one of those Nordics..." He shuddered. "I just wanted to like, ask you a question. That's all." Estonia raised an eyebrow. "You were freaking out this much because you wanted to ask me a question?" he muttered, frowning. Poland scowled at him, putting his hands on his hips. "It was a serious question, 'Stonia!" he whined. "But you had to ruin it with your retarded ones!" Estonia put his hands up in front of his face in defeat, getting up and dusting off his clothes. "Alright. What was your question?"

"How do you tell someone you have like, a crush on them?"

"What?" The question was so fast that Estonia barely heard it, let alone understood it. Poland looked annoyed, but he repeated it anyway. "I. Have. A. Crush. On. Liet-" he suddenly covered his mouth, blushing. Estonia smiled warily. "And you want to tell him? Lithuania won't mind, just go up and tell him."

"Thanks, Estonia..."

"Hey, Nor!"

Norway sat in front of the dining table, his head on it, his hand curled around a cup of coffee. "Denmark," he muttered, his voice muffled. "For once, can you _please_ leave me alone?" Denmark laughed. "I can't leave you alone, dude! You're my best friend!" He said loudly. Norway scowled into the table. "I am _not_your best friend, Dane. Now go away," he snapped, pulling the coffee cup closer to his head. It had long since cooled down, but Norway was fine with it; he liked cold coffee and how it kept his odd thoughts at bay.

"Aww, come on, Norge! What's wrong, buddy?" Denmark put one hand on his back. _Great,_ Norway thought, irritated. _If my clothes weren't dirty enough already, now they're bloodstained. _"Don't you have England to torture or something?" he said, sitting up and frowning at Denmark, who just grinned down at him. "Nah, he's sleeping right now. Crying over Alfred or something, so I left him alone. Anyway, what's wrong?" Norway's frown grew into another scowl. "It's none of your business," he growled, pushing Denmark's bloody hand away. "Tell me," Denmark said, sitting down next to him and taking a sip from a bottle of beer that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "It's not like I'll tell anyone, c'mon!"

"When's the last time you didn't tell anyone one of my secrets?"

"Uh..."

Denmark did what looked like deep thinking before finally responding. "...Never?" He said, still with that same, lopsided, slightly insane grin. Norway rolled his eyes. "Exactly. Now kindly fuck off." But Denmark stayed standing next to him, refusing to move. Norway scowled and watched as he downed the entire rest of his beer. "I will if you tell meeee~!" He said, trying and failing to pat Norway on the back and instead patting his head. Norway raised an eyebrow. "You're really not going to tell anyone?" It was a risk, especially telling _Denmark_ of all people, but it was better to tell him than anyone else he knew; besides, his secret was_ about_Iceland; if he told Finland, he'd be scarred for life, and wouldn't be able to take care of Sealand, and for that reason, Sweden would kill him. "Fine." He'd made up his mind, it was better to get it off his chest now than never. "I... I have a crush on someone," he muttered. Denmark's eyes widened. "Lucky you! Now who is it?"

"Iceland."

Denmark's glass of beer fell to the floor, shattering to pieces. His jaw dropped, and his eyes were wider than Norway had ever seen them. "Iceland...? Dude, Norge, that's not... He's your brother..." Norway put his head in his hands. "Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don't know." Denmark frowned, getting up to get another beer from the fridge. "That's not right, Nor. You're not supposed to love him like that," he said. His eyes were narrowed, and, for once, he looked quite serious. Norway blinked up at him. "I know that," he muttered. "I'm not stupid." Denmark shook his head. "Then why are you still thinking like that?" Sitting down with his beer, he looked Norway straight in the eye. "What do you want to do with him, Norway?"

_I want to love him. I want to love him and I want him to love me back._He'd unknowingly, subconsciously blurted his thoughts out loud. Denmark's expression had taken on mixed feelings of disgust and anger as he downed his second beer, looking more than a little drunk. "You don't want that, Norge," he slurred. "That's horrible. You're horrible." The last sentence felt like a slap in the face; for all the times Norway had insulted him, he'd never gotten anything back. Denmark glared at him through unfocused eyes; even though his glare was no where near Sweden's, Norway was uncharacteristically terrified. The Denmark he knew had vanished and left behind someone who wasn't just insulting him, but glaring at him in genuine anger. "Someone should teach you a lesson, Nor," he growled.

Norway started to get up out of his chair, wanting to get away before Denmark got violent. But even before he'd taken a single step away, Denmark reached out and grabbed his arm. "You're not going anywhere," he whispered. "You're coming with me." He got off and set off quickly; quite a feat for someone who was so drunk, but that was the last thing on Norway's mind. Denmark dragged him up the stairs, not seeming to care as Norway yelled at him to stop.

"What are you doing?"

The door to Norway's room slammed open so hard it bounced of the wall. It would have slammed shut again if Denmark hadn't suddenly pushed Norway into the room, making him fall on his bed. Said nation started backing away from him, pushing his blankets away and kicking frantically in a desperate attempt to get away. "Dane! I asked you a question!" Norway yelled. Nothing he did seemed to have any effect on Denmark at all; if anything, it was making him more annoyed. The taller nation pushed Norway down onto his bed, pinning him down by his wrists.

It was only then that Norway realized what he was doing.

"I'm teaching you a lesson," Denmark said, his tone soft and silky. "You know you can't think like that, _Nor._" Norway shivered as his own name was whispered in his ear. His shirt was starting to be unbuttoned from the bottom up, and he could feel Denmark's nails rubbing his bare skin. "Stop struggling," Denmark growled, pulling off Norway's shirt completely. "I'm not going to stop struggling, get off, stop it-" He was silenced as his pants were ripped off; he was now completely naked with Denmark above him.

Oh, it was horrible. As soon as Denmark's clothes were gone and the door was locked, the other Nordic pushed into Norway without any lube at all, stretching him. The only thing that Norway could feel was pain; all the pleasure this could have held was destroyed in the purpose of it. "Stop it, stop it, _stop-"_ His complaint was cut off with a sharp slap to the face; Norway barely held back a cry of anguish, and the only reason he did so was to make sure he wouldn't get slapped again. "This is _helping_ you, Norge. Stay still." Denmark pushed in harder. _It's not helping!_ Norway wanted to scream. _It only hurts, stop it, stop it... _

Luckily for him, it was over almost as soon as it had begun.

Denmark left Norway there, lying on his bed, miserable, sweating, and in agony. Why couldn't he have just killed him instead? It would have hurt a lot less. The door slammed behind Denmark, and Norway was glad he was gone.

_"You're horrible."_Denmark's voice played on loop through his head so much that he was starting to believe it.

_"You're horrible, Nor."_

"I'm not."

_"You're horrible."_

"Am I?"

_"Horrible."_

"I know," he muttered at last. Tears were starting to leak out of his eyes. "You can shut up now." _Stupid idiot,_ Norway thought, shakingly pulling his clothes back on. _You could have just yelled at him to go away, and then shut yourself in here, but nooooo, you pick this one time to be nice..._ Norway put his head in his hands. He was useless; he'd pondered that possibility before, but this... _Meeting_with Denmark had proved it. "Fucking Iceland," he murmured. "Stop it, dammit." But no matter how hard he tried, the only thing that came to the front of his mind was his brother, his amazingly innocent little brother, refusing to say his name and blushing when Norway had gotten closer to him.

_"Big brother."_

And when he'd finally said it... It had made Norway quite happy, to the say the least. Yes, that settled it. He was horrible. Those were forbidden thoughts; why was he thinking them? Denmark hadn't exactly _fixed_him, but at least he'd settled that matter.

_One week later..._

"Noregur! Hello?"

There was a knock at Norway's door. Said nation pulled his blankets higher over his head, trying to shut out his brother's voice. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't bothered locking the door last night, and it flew wide open, bouncing off the wall like it had before. "C'mon, get up, it's almost noon!" Norway groaned as Iceland yelled in his ears, opening the blinds to let in light, which, of course, shone directly onto his face through a hole in his blanket's defense. "Alright, alright, I'm up," he growled, pushing away the sheets and sitting up, only to find himself face-to-face with Iceland, who was frowning at him in what Norway took to be the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.

_Nope. It didn't work._

"You're always up before everyone else, what's wrong this time?" Iceland said, putting his hands on his hips. Norway shook his head. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just tired. Quit worrying." He rubbed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to be left alone. Iceland, however, seemed to be doing everything to prevent that from happening. He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine," he muttered. "I'm asking because I care, but if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to." Norway sat up and stretched. "What time did you say it was?" he asked, yawning. Iceland glared at him. "12:03. Now get up. Or do I have to throw cold water in your face?" _That would be nice,_ Norway thought. _It would remind me how horrible I am._ "No, I'm awake, don't worry yourself over these things." He rubbed his eyes. "I just... Didn't sleep very well last night, that's all." Iceland sighed, sounding defeated. "Okay, fine. Now, seriously, _up._Denmark's been yelling at us all morning and you know you're the only one who-"

Norway frowned as his brother's quick stop. "What?" Iceland had a hand to his mouth. "N-Noregur... You're bleeding, look!" he ran up and swiped his fingers on Norway's neck, pulling back to reveal blood. Norway flinched, remembering what had happened:

_"Get off!"_

_"I'm not getting off until you love me."_

_"I don't love you, now get the fuck off of me!"_

Denmark had grazed his jaggedly-cut nails down the side of Nor's neck for that outburst. It had stung, but at that point, he honestly couldn't have cared less; he was too focused in trying to get Denmark away from him to notice the slight burst of pain. "I... Uh..."

"What happened last night? What did you do? Are you okay?" Iceland asked, sounding overly alarmed. Norway turned to face him, his emotionless gaze sweeping over him again. "Why would you care?" he murmured suddenly. "It's not like anyone does, anyway. Just leave me alone. I need to go get dressed." Iceland scowled, looking slightly taken aback. "I care. I'm... I'm your little brother, you raised me, of course I care!" He got up, moving towards the bathroom, obviously to get Norway something for his neck. "I'm not leaving you alone!"

"Why not?"

Iceland froze halfway through opening the door. "You don't need me," Norway went on, looking anywhere but at his brother. "I'm a burden, I'm horrible... I deserve to _die..._" his voice faded and he choked back a sob. Iceland's eyes widened and he made his way back to him. "G-god... Why didn't he just _kill_ me then, he just left me in hell..." Norway focused his gaze on his knees, wondering why he'd even bothered telling Iceland all of this. It's not like he was going to care, anyway... Sure, he said he cared, but that's what everyone said, that's what _Denmark _said...

"Wh-what?" Iceland's voice jolted him out of his thoughts like the cold water he'd threatened him with earlier. "You're not a burden, Lukas!" Norway flinched again as he heard his name, that's something Denmark _hadn't _said. "And who are you talking about?" Iceland added, sitting on the chair next to his brother's bed. "Listen to me. You. Do. _Not._ Deserve. To. Die." That's when Norway finally looked up at him. "Then why does he say so? Why does everyone ignore me?" He put his face in his hands as tears leaked out of his eyes. "Everyone is always paying attention to Sve and Fin and that happy little family of theirs, and you're the youngest, you always get attention... And Den... He's so happy and... _Fake, _but you all l-love him and nobody loves me and I j-just-" this time, he couldn't hold back a sob.

Iceland looked intently at him. "Why does who say so? What do you mean, no one pays attention to you?" He wanted to help, he really did. "Tell me what's wrong. I'll help you, I swear I will. And Den... What's wrong with him?" He was getting quite frustrated. "What's going on? Tell me, dammit!" Norway lifted his head just slightly to see that his brother's face was anguished; it ripped his heart in two, but... "N-no, he told me n-not to... B-because no one would believe me..." Iceland put a hand on his shoulder and it took all of Norway's strength not to pull away. "Tell me. Whether I believe you or not, I'll still listen." Norway sighed.

"I... I was raped."


	4. Chapter 3

_I'M SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE YOU GUYSSSS! School is eating my life. _

_I will tell you right now that most of this chapter was done while listening to random songs in Norwegian (There's this one song called Hjem til dæ I kept looping). I was also kinda multitasking by doing my English homework at the same time. Plus the fact that intentionally hurting one of my favorite characters is pretty hard to write through..._

_Special thanks, as always, goes to min kjære. You know who you are. Jeg elsker deg._

_-Yuuki_

* * *

_Thud._

It was as if Iceland's heart had suddenly fallen through the floor, taking all of his confusion with it. Norway- his older brother, the one he'd always looked up to- had been _raped. _Taken advantage of. "How could anyone do that to you?" Iceland spluttered, his eyes wide. Norway looked right into his brother's eyes. Iceland wanted to do something- _anything-_to get rid of the uncharacteristic sorrow in those deep blue eyes that were staring so insistently into his.

Norway suddenly looked down at the ground, his face paling. Iceland, in turn, glared up at the ceiling. "Who did it?" he asked quietly. "I'll go after them and kill them, I swear." That made Norway look back up at him. "No!" he said, loud enough to make Iceland snap his gaze away from the ceiling and stare. "He... He'll go after you too, and I couldn't have that. I'd l-live the rest of life in guilt." Iceland sighed. "I suppose I understand... You're not going anywhere until you tell me who did it, though." Norway fidgeted a little, taking a deep breath and getting up to go close the door before sitting back on his bed and gazing so intently at Iceland that his face reddened slightly.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?"

"...Promise."

Another deep breath.

"Okay. It was..." Norway choked up a little, pausing and burying his head in his hands before looking back up, absolutely frightened. It was barely more than a whisper when it came out, but it made all the difference in the world.

"It was Denmark."

It was that moment when Iceland's heart shattered completely.

He clenched his fists. "Why... Why would he do that to you?" he blurted out, confused. Norway had always seemed so strong and emotionless, but Iceland had never known that he was broken deep down. Perhaps it was everyone had learned to accept that that's who he was, and he was always going to be that way. No one had ever bothered to ask, and now... "Calm down, _lillebror,_" Norway whispered. "D-don't do anything rash, It's n-not his fault." Iceland scowled back at his brother. "There's _no way _it's not his fault," he growled. Norway shook his head. "N-no, listen," he whispered. "He was just... You know, drinking one day, and I was upset, and he asked me why I was sad, and... It got worse the more he drank, and he told me I was h-horrible for being sad over something, and eventually he told me he was going to t-teach me a lesson..." Norway's voice trailed off into an awkward silence.

"How was doing... _that_supposed to fix you?" Iceland asked. "What were you thinking about that made him do that?" Norway looked away, his face reddening. "It... It was supposed to fix me. It w-was supposed to g-get rid of my bad thoughts." Iceland frowned at him. "What thoughts?" he asked quietly. Norway didn't look up; instead, he stared at the floor, biting his lip. "Can't tell anyone," he breathed. "Especially not you..." Iceland sighed. "I suppose you've told me enough as it is," he replied, getting up. "Why don't you just go back to sleep? There's no one else at home, so you might as well if you're that tired."

Norway nodded slowly and was about to lay down to fall asleep when he realized his brother was actually leaving. "Hey, Ice?" he called. Iceland turned back around. "Yes?" he asked. Norway looked at the floor again. "Do... Do you mind just staying here with me?" he asked. "I... I don't want to be alone, you know..." Iceland nodded. "Yeah, sure, of course," he replied quietly, making his way to the window and shutting the blinds. "When is everyone coming back from... Wherever they went?" Norway asked shakily. Iceland shrugged. "Finland had said around 10," he said. Norway sighed in relief. That gave him time. "They just left without us?" Iceland nodded. "I didn't want to go, anyway. Who wants to go to the beach in the middle of November?" Norway cracked a smile at that. "Sealand, I suppose... well, 'night, then." Iceland was about to respond but his brother cut him off. "I know it's the middle of the day," Norway said quietly. "I can't really say good afternoon, can I?"

"Just shut it and sleep."

"Love you too."

Iceland lay down in Norway's bed and pulled the covers over his head. For whatever reason, he felt rather cold. He couldn't understand it; Norway's covers were so thick they generally made him sweat half to death. Perhaps it was the news that had just been uncovered... And then it hit him.

"Noregur? Are you asleep?"

"No way. What is it?"

Iceland took a deep breath and turned towards his brother. Even in the half-light, he could see Norway's dull blue eyes gazing intently at his own. "Do you remember how I used to sleep with you like this when we were little?" he asked. Norway gave a shaky little laugh. "Yeah, you were so adorable... I'd have my arms around you to protect you from the monsters in the closet." Iceland chuckled. "I remember that," he whispered. "It was so fun back then, with nothing to worry about..." He cringed suddenly and turned away, remembering something.

Norway was confused. "Hey, it's okay," he murmured, reaching out and pulling Iceland closer to him. "I'm better now, with you here..." Iceland shook his head. "I'm not thinking of your problems," he muttered, his face reddening slightly. Norway raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? You are too good to be having your own problems, lillebror. What's bugging you?" Iceland sighed. "I don't know how you'll take it," he replied.

"I don't know if there's anything I couldn't take."

"Well..."

"Yes...?"

"Ihaveacrushonyou."

It was blurted out so fast that Norway barely even heard it, but what he'd heard was enough. Iceland quickly turned back around and buried his face into the pillow, his heart beating so loud he swore Norway could hear it. "You... Wait, no, get back here!" He forced his brother to turn his direction. "Did you just..." _confess?_Iceland sighed. "Maybe I did... F-fine, I did. I have a crush on you, okay?" Norway bit his lip. He could barely believe his ears. Making sure Iceland's eyes were shut tight, he leaned forward, his own eyes fluttering shut, about to meet his brother's lips with his own, but-

_You're horrible._

Norway cut off abruptly, turning over. "Goodnight," he said, his voice curt. Iceland sighed. "Goodnight," he replied. Great. He'd had to open his mouth once, and now his brother probably hated him. It was wrong, it was horrible, it made you a bad person, to be in love with your own _brother_like that.

Which made the fact that Norway was thinking the exact same thing even worse. He hadn't wanted to admit this to himself for the past few months, but now that Iceland felt the same way, wasn't it justified, at least somewhat? He waited until he heard his brother's soft snoring before turning over again. Tear tracks were visible on Iceland's face, making Norway's heart ache. "Well," he started, his voice barely audible, "I kinda have a crush on you too, _lillebror._" He gently brushed his lips against Iceland's before turning away and finally letting sleep come to him.

Iceland awoke a few hours later to find the other half of the bed empty.

He'd fallen asleep crying. It wasn't like him to do that, yes, but he couldn't stop himself.

_Stop it stop it stop it you're horrible he hates you_

With a sigh, Iceland ripped the blankets off of himself. So, maybe, for once, his thoughts were right. _He hates you._ Yeah, maybe, maybe not. He got up out of bed and threw open the door, checking the clock as he went. _5:07,_it said. Not bad. He still had five hours to endure.

The smell of fresh bread hit his nose as he went down the stairs. Norway stood in the kitchen, casually leaning against the counter and flipping through some book written in Old Norse. He looked up as Iceland walked in. "Good, you're awake," he said. His voice was emotionless once again; no evidence of what had happened a few hours ago. The oven went off, and Norway turned towards it, opening the oven door and pulling out the bread and placing it on the counter before grabbing a bag of licorice and holding it out to his brother. "Here. I found it in the pantry, you can eat it while the bread cools down."

Iceland walked forward and took the bag from his brother. "Thanks," he muttered, opening the bag and sitting down at the table. Norway pulled open a drawer at random and took out a knife, slicing the freshly baked bread and trying to keep his eyes off of his brother. _Nothing happened, _he thought to himself. _Ignore it. _

"Hey, Noregur."

_Shit._

"Yes, what is it?" Norway tried to keep his voice as straight as possible. Iceland looked down at the ground. "It sounds... Kind of childish, but... About what I said right before we fell asleep..." _Oh, damn._Here it comes. "I wasn't kidding," Iceland went on. He was steering straight into dangerous waters, but he had to make sure. "But you didn't respond, so, I was wondering..." Norway finally looked over at him. "Wondering what?" he asked, genuinely worried now.

"Do you hate me?" Iceland blurted out. "For what I said?" Norway freezes in the middle of cutting his brother a slice of bread. Continuing to do so (albeit quite a bit slowly than before), he once again does not look up at Iceland. "What did you say?" he asks, his voice smooth. He places the slice of bread on a plate and walks over to Iceland, putting it on the table before getting himself a slice and sitting down.

Iceland hesitates. _This is going nowhere. _"You... You know what I said," he started, watching as his _brother_ pushed a large piece of bread into his mouth. "I said I had a crush on you." Iceland blushed slightly and turned back towards his bread. Norway bit down hard on his bread, looking up at Iceland. _So, ignoring it did not work,_he thought. "How's your food?" he asked, quickly changing the subject. "I worked hard to make it, to make up for being bad and making you angry earlier." Iceland nearly dropped his bread. "You're ignoring my question," he muttered. "Now answer me, or I'll... I'll assume you hate me."

"I couldn't hate you. Never." _In fact, I love you! I have loved you ever since we were little, and I have learned to hide it because of how wrong everyone says it is,_Norway thought desperately."Never." Iceland sighed. "Good," he replied. "I was just making sure... You know, the others are going to come downstairs soon." Norway shook himself. "What? The others?" And then it hit him. "Oh, right. I'm stuck in this Nordic hellhole..."

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Would I lie to you, _lillebror?_"

He had hesitated for a split second before replying, and that made all the difference to Iceland. "You did hide what happened between you and Denmark until now... I was just... Sorry." Iceland got up and turned, going to put his plate in the sink. "Something just feels a bit off. You don't have to tell me, but, you know... I'm not making any of the senses right now." Norway chuckled. "It's fine."

He gets up from his chair to find himself face to face with his brother.

For once in their lives, neither of them say anything. There is no noise, no movement, no thought. Their minds are blank. Norway opens his mouth to say something, but Iceland is the first to speak. "...You should move," he says quietly. "I can't."

Norway smiles that odd smile of his, a mix of confusion and mirth. "Then I suppose we're stuck," he replies. "I can't seem to move either." He leans against the table, hitting it hard enough to cause his plate, which he had foolishly set on the edge, to fall to the floor and smash into pieces. Iceland flinches. "Wh-why not?" he stammers. _Well, _Norway thinks,_ Any direction I move I'll regret, either backwards or forwards is too much pain._"W-well, I don't know why I couldn't before... Probably just surprised that you were there, but... Now there's bits of plate on the floor, and I'll step on them..."

_He really does hate you._

Iceland takes a step back, wincing as he steps on a bit of plate. If Norway refuses to move, he supposes he'll have to. He steps backwards once more and this time his heel catches a piece of plate, causing his foot to slide out from under him, making Iceland fall backwards, slamming his head directly on the edge of the table. Norway reacted immediately, at his brother's side in a flash.

"Are you okay?" Of course that was the first thing out of Norway's mouth, he was so used to saying it that it came out of him almost subconsciously. Iceland groaned. He hadn't been expecting this; one second he was eating bread, the next second... Curious, he moved his hand to the back of head, pulling it back to see blood. "Well, shit," he mutters. Norway winces as he sees scarlet on his brother's hand. "Well, how badly does it hurt?" he asks, highly concerned.

Now that Iceland thinks about it, he can't feel a thing. "It doesn't... Even though it should... Where did the pain go?" he asks. In general he'd think that was a stupid question, but in this case, anything goes. If possible, it was Iceland's response that made Norway worry about a hundred times more. "That's not a good thing," he says quietly. He gets up and hurries back over to the kitchen, grabbing a spare towel and dampening it before rushing back to his brother's side, lifting Iceland's head ever so slightly and clamping it on the back of his head. "Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" Norway dreads asking that question; Iceland has hated hospitals since he was little. Over the course of more than a thousand years, the young nation has seen way too many people die from the sickness and war, especially citizens of his own country. As a result, hospitals are about the equivalent to hell in Iceland's mind.

Yet the silver haired boy shrugs weakly. "I dunno, should I?" he asks. He is highly confused, as anyone else would be had they experienced the same type of blunt trauma. Norway frowns. "I'm not exactly sure... Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, so it could be fine, but as it doesn't hurt..." He makes up his mind at last. "I'd rather not take any chances." _After all, what would I do if you died? _He picks Iceland up marriage style, keeping the cloth pressed firmly onto his wound. Norway heads to the garage door, kicking it open so hard it bounces off of the opposite wall; however Norway is too fast for it and is already next to his car in the time it takes for the door to slam shut again. He somehow manages to pull open the door to the back seat, laying Iceland down across it and hurriedly fastening all three seatbelts. "Hold on tight," Norway says, closing the door and heading to his own seat.

Iceland frowns slightly. "This is a car, right?" he mutters. "Why is everything so blurry?" Norway almost laughed but he stopped himself in time. "Right, it's official, I'm breaking the speed limit," he said, putting the key in the ignition and turning it before backing out of his driveway. "Just remember to stay awake."

"But I wanna take a nap."

In any other situation, Norway would have laughed at how childish Iceland sounded, but in this case, it hurt him. If only he'd been more careful... "_No._ You can _not_ take a nap." Norway turns on to the main road, trying frantically to remember where the hospital was in the first place. "If you do, you might..." He couldn't say it. "Well, just... Don't sleep." Iceland groaned once more. "But I want to sleep... Fine, fine, have it your way, I'll stay awake." _Why the hell does the hospital have to be so far away? _"Why is it all so blurry?" Iceland asks, waving his hand in front of his face. He does not understand; it does not hurt, and he has forgotten that he is bleeding. Norway bites his lip and takes another turn. "W-well, you _are_bleeding all over my seat, after all," he replies, trying to keep his voice straight. "Just another 5 minutes until we reach the hospital. You can hold on until then, right?" He is again afraid of the answer, and even more afraid that his dear brother will not respond. Instead, Iceland pouts like the child he is and rolls his eyes, taking in the fuzzy world before replying. "Yeah, fine, I'll stay awake," he says quietly.

"Good. Three more minutes," Norway says, relieved. Iceland sighs, moving his unwounded foot to rest against the window. He is not wearing any shoes, but Norway has thought enough to bring his to the hospital with him. He drums his fingers on the wheel as he waits for a red light to fade to green, listening as Iceland smacks the same foot against the window repeatedly as if trying to regain feeling in it. "Hurry up, why don't you?" he mutters, irritated. Norway laughs under his breath. "_Herregud, _Iceland, we're already here..." He pulls into the parking lot and stops the engine with a sigh, pushing open the car door without even a thought to the fact that he went the entire seven minutes without a seatbelt on. Norway runs over to the back seat, unbuckling all three seatbelts and picking Iceland up like he did before and running into the hospital.

Thankfully, the first person he comes across is a nurse. She looks up at him with a frown, opening her mouth as if to speak, but Norway cuts her off.  
"My little brother fell and smashed his head on the table, and stepped on a broken plate. He doesn't feel any pain at all and has blurred vision. Could somebody help me? He's lost quite a bit off blood..." His words tumble out of his mouth in a rush; he is not accustomed to panic. The Nurse takes one look at Iceland and purses her lips. "Emergency room," she says, her voice curt.

Iceland scowls sleepily. "I'm... It doesn't..." He struggles to get a coherent sentence out. Norway simply nods at the nurse before walking in the direction of the Emergency Wing. "Come on, Ice. I know it doesn't hurt, but they still need to check on you, okay?" He mutters, walking as fast as he can around stretchers and confused-looking doctors. Iceland pouts slightly. "Fine," he snaps softly. "I'm only doing it because you're making me." Norway smirks. "Really?" he asks, somewhat proud of himself. "Good boy." Nearly tripping over someone's foot, he stumbles on, his pride consumed in the previously mind-numbing panic. "Now, which room?"

The one in his arms feels like kicking him, but he is nowhere near the right angle to make it hurt. "Just pick a room and get it over with," he growls. Norway nods again, this time somewhat absentmindedly. He does not not Iceland to regain full consciousness; that means the younger nation freaking out and having a panic attack, if not a nervous breakdown. He rolls his eyes and turns right into room 366, in which there is another nurse cleaning up after the last patient.

Clearing his throat so that the nurse turns around, Norway begins to talk. "Okay, well, do you perchance know how to fix a large head wound that is causing no pain?" Alarmed, the nurse nods. "Just put him down there and I'll take care of it the best I can," she says softly, gesturing towards the bed in the middle of the room. Norway hurriedly places Iceland on said bed and watches as his little brother turns his sleep-hazed eyes to him as if he does not recognize the nurse is there. "Can I sleep _now?_" he asks, sounding both confused and impatient. Norway looks up at the nurse for confirmation, and she nods ever so slightly.

"Of course you can."

Iceland closes his eyes and the sleep comes in dark, violent waves of nothingness.

* * *

_Again, I agologize for the late update. I've already started on the next chapter (that's from my girlfriend yelling at me to update this story in the first place). I still love all the pairings in this... I made my OTP canon... I told myself I wouldn't do that... Whoops... Whatever._

_Until next time, I suppose._


	5. Relapse Denmark

_Moi!_

_Hallo. Due to the utterly stupid lateness of the previous chapter, I went and started this one two days afterwards. Music makes everything go faster, while talking to people doesn't. So it balances out pretty well. I forgot to list the pairings for the last chapter, and I should actually stop doing that... So... I'll stop. Anyway._

_To remind you, Relapse Chapters go back in time a little. This one is for Denmark, although the entire chapter is not from his point of view. Just a heads-up._

_-Yuuki_

* * *

He might have failed the first time, but this time, he would win.

He'd _better _win.

Denmark lay back on his couch, relaxed, one hand in his hair, the other holding the remote. He had only just came back from the store, after giving up on finding Norway and Iceland, who seemed to be avoiding him at every turn. He could hear Sealand muttering in frustration from the other room. _Math homework, probably, _he thought. It was normal for Sealand to be annoyed with homework in general, and this time was no different.

"Uncle Den?" the boy's voice startled Denmark quite a bit, but he turned, grinning, to him. "What is it, Sea?" he asked. Sealand shifted slightly. "Where's Mommy?" he asked, frowning a little. Denmark blinked. He'd completely forgotten that Finland had showed up at the store as well. "Didn't he come back?" Denmark asked, sitting up and shaking himself. Sealand shook his head. "Daddy when after him, but it's been an hour since he left, and-"

At that second, the door flew open, revealing three people- Sweden, who was holding an unconscious and bloody Finland, and a blond nation Denmark didn't recognize, who was being dragged along in the Swede's mighty grip. Denmark's attention latched onto them as he dropped the remote, his jaw dropping with it. Sitting up, he walked quickly over to them.

"What the hell happened out there?"

"Th's idiot decided to b't up F'ny," Sweden growled, thrusting the blond forward. The nation fell into a heap at Denmark's feet. Said nation looked up at Sweden, who was glaring as usual. "Why the- Why would he-" Sweden cut him off. "You 'sk h'm," he muttered, kicking the nation into Denmark, who stepped back a little, waiting until Sweden had started to disappear up the stairs before picking the blond up and following him.

Denmark kicked the door to his room open, throwing the blond nation onto the floor, kneeling in front of him. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes halfway. "So you're the one who beat up Finland, huh?" Denmark muttered. "Don't look like much, really. But then again, you probably caught him off-guard..." The blond nation backed away a little. "Who the bloody hell are you?" he spat out. Denmark chuckled. "Could ask you the same thing," he said, grinning. "But, anyway. I'm Denmark, and I can't really say I'm glad to meet you, but fuck it." He pushed his hand forward, letting the surprised looking blond take it.

"I'm England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to be exact," he replied stiffly, his voice cracking. Denmark raised an eyebrow. "England, huh?" he muttered. "Thought you'd know better than to mess with the Nordics. You see," he added, "When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" Smiling a bit now, he went on. "We're gonna have to keep you here for a while, see," he said. "Sweden looked like he'd want to strangle you and then put you in a blender, but, y'know, I thought we could give you some sort of a chance." After all, England controlled quite a bit of the economy over here; if he went over the edge, they were all screwed. "You're held on ransom either way," he added. England startled. "What?" he spluttered, confused. Denmark laughed a little. "Hell yeah!" he replied, the grin on his face growing. "The only way we're letting you go is if someone happens to give us about a billion dollars, or Euros, or whatever." England looked as if hell had just frozen over. "D-don't you think that would really hurt that person's economy?" he he stuttered out.

Denmark resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "My point exactly. Someone's really going to have to give up quite a bit to get you," he said. England slumped over slightly after a few seconds, as if it was hopeless. Sighing slightly, Denmark went on, trying to comfort the blond nation. "Don't worry. Someone'll come along. Now get some sleep, it's 1:00 in the morning!" Denmark gestured to the bed in the middle of the room, which had recently been used by him and Sealand (don't get any ideas, they were playing Chutes and Ladders). "That's my bed, but I generally sleep on the couch downstairs... So, good night!"

The door slammed shut behind him.

Through Finland's broken vision, everything was sharpened.

It was odd, yes; but he was seeing things he never would have noticed if he was still able to use his right eye, which was, for the time being, bandaged shut, such as the fact that _Oh my God, Sweden never wears socks,_ or more important things, like _Norway uses the same coffee cup every day, how cute. _It had the Icelandic flag on it, after all...

Finland's life seemed to keep the same rambling path as it had before, at least to the other Nordics. He was _fine_. Before he had been _doing well. _No difference. They missed the little things, though. Things like what Finland had noticed recently.

He stared out the window, where Sealand and Denmark were playing what seemed like an overly-rough game of tag. The older Nordic ran across the yard, arms flailing wildly, while Sealand chased after him with a bucket filled to the brim with rocks, most of which were being rapidly pelted at Denmark, all of which seemed to be hitting invisible bullseyes on the back of his trenchcoat. Finland winced repeatedly as the they made their mark; Sweden, on the other hand, seemed to enjoying himself. He sat on the couch next to Finland with an odd little ghost of a smile on his face, which actually made sense at this point in time. In his mind, the injuries to his wife were being balanced out with pain to Denmark.

Sweden's reprieve came to an end when Sealand suddenly trips and falls flat on his face. Finland is up and rushing out the back door immediately, at his son's side in a flash. "Sealand!" he exclaimed, anguished. Sweden followed close behind, watching as Finland stumbled with some difficulty towards a tree some three yards away to support himself. Denmark just stood there, looking confused. "There aren't any more rocks, what happened?" he asked stupidly. Sweden glared at him. "He's h'rt, idiot," he growled. Denmark knelt next to Sealand. Although the wound was no worse than a scraped knee, the micronation pouted, tears forming in his eyes.

"It hurts!" he blurted out. Finland smiled weakly, intentionally falling to the ground and pulling Sealand onto his lap. "I know it does," he replied softly. "But you're going to have to push through it." Finland looked up at Sweden. "Sve, could you get some...?" He trailed off as Sweden nodded, turning towards Denmark. "You heard h'm," he growled. Denmark frowned. "He was talking to you, though!" he exclaimed, annoyed. Sweden just pointed in the direction of the house. "Go."

Denmark sighed. "Right, alright, I'm going," he muttered, stalking back towards the house in irritation. Sweden always got the best of him; there was no exception when Finland and Sealand were involved. He threw open the back door and barged in so fast he nearly ran over Iceland. The younger nation glared up at him. "Watch it," he snapped. Denmark grinned sheepishly. "Sorry," he muttered. Iceland rolled his eyes, casually picking up a dirty plate from the sink and beginning to scrub the food off of it. _So Norway finally forced him into it._ "At least look around before you come waltzing in like that," he growled, sounding a bit like his brother. Denmark grinned and ruffled his hair. "Right, I'll try to remember!" he said, turning around towards the door; just fast enough to dodge the wet scrubber that Iceland aimed at the back of his head. Chuckling as he walked onwards, he came to the foot of the stairs, where Norway had placed the first aid kit. _Awesome!_

By the time he finally got back to the yard, Sweden had already put disinfectant and bandages on to Sealand's wound, and Finland was carrying him inside. Denmark dropped what he was carrying and stared. "What the fuck, man?" he said, looking at Sweden. The taller nation glared back as usual. "you took t' long," he replied.

"It took me two minutes!"

"And it took me th'rty seconds."

Denmark growled in annoyance. "Alright, fine then. I'll just go now, shall I?" Not even waiting for anyone to respond, he turned back around and walked straight into the sliding glass door before angrily throwing it open again and walking up the stairs and throwing open the door to the guest room at the end of the hall. The is a moral to every story if you look hard enough, and Denmark saw this one plain as day.

_He was alone._

Sweden had Finland. Norway had Iceland. Who did Denmark have? Of the Nordic Five, he was the odd one out. And it _hurt,_ now that he thought about it. But maybe... Maybe he could still find someone. Perhaps there was someone who wasn't quite in a relationship yet that he could hold on to. In that case, he had two choices. Norway and Iceland. Neither of them had anyone, really, to hold onto, besides each other... And they were _brothers, _for god's sake. They weren't going to get together.

Norway hated him, anyway. One step towards him and he'd start to go off on a "You took over my country and then took away Iceland when I had to become part of Sweden, idiot" sort of speech. There was no way that was going to happen.

So, what about Iceland?

Icey was just a bit... annoyed by Denmark, that was all. Maybe they could remain friends. Come to think about it, maybe a little more than that. Yes, that was it. He'd hold on to Iceland for as long as possible, even if the gray-haired boy came to hate him.

_It's all for the best, even if it comes to the worst._

* * *

_3:57 AM_

_You have 7 new voice messages_

England had decided it was high time he'd gotten back to talking with everyone; even if he was stuck in this hellhole until someone got him out of it (if anyone ever got him out of it), he would at least have to able to _talk _to people, for crying out loud.

_From Alfred F. Jones, 15:37 yesterday_

He tapped the first of the messages on his phone, and was surprised to see that name in particular pop up. Nonetheless, he pressed play.

_"Hey, Artie, bro!" _Alfred's happy voice rang through the speaker. _"You haven't called in a while, so I thought I'd check on ya!" _England rolled his eyes. America got worried if he wasn't calling him every half hour, let alone three days. _" 'Kay. Love you. Bye. Call me!" _Blushing profusely, England stopped the voicemail, tabbing over to the next one.

_From Alfred F. Jones, 15:59 yesterday_

"Git." _I want to hear your voice again. "Hi, Artie. You haven't responded yet, I'm getting a bit worried now. D'you, like, not have service or something?" _Well, _that _explained it. In America, everyone who had a cellphone was, for whatever reason, required to be staring at it 24/7; and if you were gone for more than thirty seconds, everyone assumed you were either dead or in a dead zone. _"Call me back, dude! Kay, bye!" _Oh damn him. Alfred had no idea where Arthur even was.

The next few messages were just the same as the ones before. The last one, however, was different.

_From Matthew Williams, 17:03 yesterday_

Wait. Matthew? Did he even know a Matthew? _Oh, right. Canada..._Hoping this message wasn't like the last six, Arthur hit play.

_"Oh, hey, England..." _That was relaxing, hearing a voice that wasn't blaring in his ear so loud he swore he'd started to go deaf. _"I, uh, thought I'd call. America's really worried about you, see. He's gone out now, and I know you don't generally reply to his voicemails immediately, so I was wondering if you could at least call back once, eh? Just to let us know you're still alive..." _That made much more sense, too. _"That's all. Bye now." _

So maybe he _should _call, after all. Maybe America would quit bugging him. Maybe England could tell him where he was. Maybe he'd get rescued. Maybe he'd...

His hopes flicked off like a lightswitch as soon as Denmark stepped through the door, drunk and as mad as hell. The light went on, and the Nordic's face was in clear view. He was visibly shaken; gripping onto the door so hard it was denting under his grip.

"What's wrong?"

"I taught him a lesson."

England frowned. "Taught who a lesson in what?" he asked, puzzled. Denmark glared at him through unfocused eyes, slowly closing the door and stalking towards him. "You don't do that," he said quietly. England was suddenly quite concerned for his safety. "You don't-?"

"You do _not_ leave me like that." The axe was in his hands, lifted from its regular hiding place by the door. "You don't, you don't..." _What the bloody hell is going on here? _England barely had time to think before the covers were ripped off of him, his phone pulled out of his hands and thrown into some dark corner of the room. The axe came flying towards him, slashing into his throat.

_And so the bloody reign of the Kingdom of Denmark starts again._

* * *

It's a normal day. It's a nice, _normal _day.

Iceland is sitting at the table with worksheets piled in front of him. He's just gotten back from school, and is getting ready to tackle the weeks' work, most of which is from his annoying Algebra 2 class. _God, this sucks. _But since he's not a "legal adult" yet, Norway says there's no way in hell he's skipping school. He'd even said it that way: _"There is no way in hell I'm letting you skip school." _Okay then, pile homework on top of his country's ever-growing financial crisis. There was absolutely nothing wrong to have to put polynomial equations before a widening debt, was there?

Speaking of Norway, the older nation sat on the other side of the table, his coffee cup held in his hands as always. "Still working?" he asks, his voice even. Iceland nods, bending over problem number 33. Norway chuckles softly. "I'm glad you're going to school, Ice. You do need education to run a country, after all." Iceland rolls his eyes. _Not this speech again. _"I know I do," he mutters, factoring out the equation and moving on to number 35. "I can't deal with _debt _without math."

Another quiet chuckle. Iceland bites his lip to keep from snapping at his brother. He has enough to deal with without Norway breathing down his neck. "Why can't you just drink your coffee somewhere else and leave me alone?" he snapped. Norway smiles a little and pokes Iceland in the back of the head. "I prefer being here with you," he says quietly. Iceland groans. "Fine then." He finishes off number 77 and nearly throws his math binder across the room in frustration. Norway's smile turns into a smirk. "It's late," he says smoothly. "You should be getting to bed." As an afterthought, he goes on. "You don't want to miss school." Iceland clenches his teeth.

"Shut up."

"Jeg elsker deg."

"Ég elska þig."

Iceland throws his binders into his backpack and runs up the stairs. This is how all of their nights go. They snap at each other; or at least, Iceland snaps at Norway while the older nation just laughed softly and make snarky remarks. It's not like Iceland hated him. No, there was no way he could hate Norway. _Never. _How can you hate the man that raised you?

The one who loves you?

The one who you love?

_The one who you're in love with?_

Iceland closed the door to his room, praying his thoughts would fade.

_Stop it stop it stop it that's weird you can't think that stop it_

He sighed, walking over to his bed and sitting down. It had been a long day, and he was just about ready to fall asleep when Denmark opened the door, a wide grin on his face. Iceland scowled. "What the hell, Dane?" he growled. Denmark just grinned a little wider and stepped towards him. "Aww, c'mon, Ice!" he said, pouting a little. "You were so nice to me when you were younger, where did that go?" Iceland rolled his eyes. "I would be nicer if you weren't so damn annoying," he muttered. "Now leave."

Unfortunately, Denmark was not about to give up on this. "Please just let me stay for a few minutes..." Iceland raised an eyebrow. Denmark asking politely? That's not something you hear everyday. "Fine," he said quietly. Denmark grinned again. "Yay!" He plopped down on the corner of Iceland's bed and ran a hand through his own hair with a sigh. "Remember the good old days?" he asked. Iceland nodded. "Oh yeah, the days where I was forced to trade only with you, and the days Norway was forced to be with Sweden? Good times," he said sarcastically. Denmark reached out and poked Iceland on the nose. "You're so silly," he said. "Remind me of Nor sometimes." Iceland wasn't sure how to feel about that. "Thanks?"

"No problem."

Silence.

"Well, I'm going to sleep now," Iceland said awkwardly. Denmark grinned yet again. "Remember how I'd give you a bedtime kiss?" he asked. Iceland blushed furiously. "No," he said quietly. "I don't." Still with that grin on his face, Denmark reached out and put his hand on Iceland's thigh and leaned forward into his face, planting a kiss on his nose before tilting his head to the side questioningly.

"Norway's better at it."

_Where did that come from? _Iceland regretted it as soon as it tumbled out of his mouth. Denmark raised an eyebrow. "You're sure?" he breathed. Iceland scowled. "Get off of me," he snapped, changing the subject. He raised his hands and tried to get him off. Denmark frowned. "You still like him more, don't you?" he asked. His voice was tinged with anger, and for once in his life, Iceland was a little scared of him.

Denmark raked his nails down Iceland's thighs before pulling his hands off all the way off. Iceland winced but bore the pain. "Dammit," Denmark snarled. "You don't get it, do you?" And with that, he turned around, striding to the door and slamming it shut behind him.

_What the hell was that about?_

Iceland got up after a few minutes, slightly shaken, to turn off the lights. A long day had been made even longer by Denmark, and Iceland intended to put today's... _incident_... as far as possible behind him. Making his way back to his bed in the dark, lying down, and covering himself, he sighed and hoped that sleep would come fast.

_"What are you doing?" _

Norway's voice suddenly sounded from the hall. Iceland startled slightly. A door was thrown open. Footsteps were heard. _Sleep, dammit! Ignore it! _It was impossible to ignore; and yet he eventually learned to shut out the yelling. It stopped after a few minutes, too. _Maybe it Sealand just made a mess in Norway's room again,_ Iceland thought. Iceland _hoped._

Funny how he only ever realized what it was a few weeks later.


	6. Chapter 4

_HAH ANOTHER LATE UPDATE. Fjandinn, I apologize. A few months ago I was like, "Oh, I'll do it in time for Christmas." A month ago I thought Valentine's day. This week, Mid-Winter Break (Which I nicknamed Mid-Winter Hellhole because of the homework I got flooded with), I said "Kayla's birthday?" And now, on the 19th, I am only halfway done but I promised her it would be up before the end of the day... So. I apologize (again!) if this is crap. One more thing: My fellow Portal people, rejoice! I am halfway done with Love as a Compromise's latest Chapter (you know I'm blanking out when I can't even remember what chapter it is. Like 22 or something dear god I don't know)._

_Jeg elsker deg, min kjæreste. Tillykke med fødselsdagen. Why must you be older than me. Just kidding. I love you... And I apologize for this chapter being a week late. It's all your fault._

_So, enjoy the angst and pain I give for this chapter._

* * *

"He's awake."

Iceland wearily opens his eyes. His six hour rest is well deserved after what had happened earlier. Norway peers at his little brother as the nurse warns of his awakening before leaving, following which the older brother heaved an inward sigh. Iceland has at least survived to see the rest of the day, and Norway is quite glad he did. "Hey," he says quietly, squeezing Iceland's hand. He's been holding onto it the entire time, even as he ate the food the hospital had given him about three hours ago. "How are you doing?" Iceland's mouth twitches into a smile. "Fantastic," he mutters. Everything is sore; even the painkillers didn't get rid of everything. He wiggles his hurt foot and turns away from his brother. "What time is it?"

Norway looks at the clock on the wall. "23:37," he replies. Iceland groans. "So is it time to go home?" He sits up, ignoring the fact that his head hurts beyond all hell. Norway frowns slightly. "You want to go home?" he asks, confused. "You need to stay here until you get well enough." He gently pushes Iceland back down.

"Where is here, exactly?"

Norway shudders internally. He risks Iceland having a panic attack if he says where; but he doesn't want the young nation to think... "We're in the hospital," Norway says quietly. Iceland's eyes widen and he flies back up. "The _hospital?"_ he replies, alarmed. The older of the two puts his hands up, trying to calm him down. "It's okay," he says. He is used to calming Iceland down in times like this; it is a habit to soothe him slowly. "Calm down; you can't work yourself up over this. No one's dead or anything." Iceland slowly lets himself relax, even though his heartbeat is still faster than usual.

"It'll be okay," Norway says slowly. Iceland sighs and finally lay back down on the bed. "How did I get here?" he asks, moving a hand to feel his throbbing head. Norway shrugs. "You slipped on a plate and hit your head on the edge of the table," he replied. Iceland rolls his eyes. "Stupid," he murmurs to himself. "How did a plate end up on the floor?"

_For right now, he doesn't need to know if he doesn't remember._ "You dropped it," Norway responded. Iceland raises an eyebrow, finally looking back at the older Nordic. "I dropped it," he echoes, confused. "Why did I drop it?" Norway sighed. "Well, it fell off the table because you pushed it, but that doesn't help," he said. "I guess... I was kind of close to you, in your personal bubble, and it scared you." Hopefully that helped fill in the gaps in his story.

"Why?"

_Damn you and your questions._

"Well," Norway started. "I don't know why you'd be scared. Maybe it just startled you." Iceland's eyes narrowed. "You're sure?" he asks. When Norway looks at the ground, Iceland snorts and looks up at the ceiling. "My foot hurts," he mutters. Norway shrugs. "Like I said, you stepped on a broken plate." Iceland suddenly realizes something and looks over at his brother. "How did I get scared so much?" he asks slowly. "I'm not really one to get frightened like that."

Norway doesn't look up. "Yes, that's true, but I..." He trailed off awkwardly, unsure of how to go on. "You what?" Iceland asks. He is curious by nature, but this stampede of questions is tiring Norway out. "I was really close when you got up, and I couldn't..." He sighed. "Couldn't move because you were that close," he mumbled.

Iceland sits up gingerly, raising an eyebrow. "And you're sure that's all?" he asks, a small smile forming on his face. "Me being close to you did that?" It wasn't very much like him to be so questioning of Norway; generally, if big brother gets annoyed and/or embarrassed, it is always best to keep a distance. And yet this time, he can't stop himself. It is simply too intriguing. When Norway nods slowly, Iceland knows instinctively that he's hiding something. The younger of the two rolls his eyes. "Come on, Nor, why did that happen?" he asks. Norway scowls slightly. "I don't need you to be pestering me like that," he says coldly. "Go out into a blizzard and freeze." _What? _He hadn't meant to say that at all, and yet it was the first thing that came tumbling out of his mouth.

However, Iceland seems to have taken it entirely seriously, freezing in place for a few seconds before sighing and pushing off his blankets and sitting up. "Fine," he says quietly. "Alright, if that's how it's going to be-" He begins to slowly pull the IV out of his arm, his face set and his teeth clenched. "-I can leave." Norway, alarmed once more, holds his hands out in front of him in a _stop it! _sort of motion, his eyes wide and, for once, showing emotion. "Calm down, Ice, I didn't..." Iceland ignores him, placing the needle on the pillow before struggling to his feet with some difficulty. Norway decidesit's time for extreme measures and, in a flash, reaches out and grabs his brother's arm, pulling Iceland to face him. "No, no, I care about you too much!" he yells. Noticing Iceland's surprised expression, Norway realizes what he's said and goes on, trying to repair it. "I mean- Oh, fuck..." He fails miserably and realizes this as Iceland shakily sits back down and turns, his face bright red. "You what?" he asks.

Norway stiffens. "Nothing, you stupid Icelander," he says coldly, fixing it at once. "Go off into a blizzard and freeze." It is odd telling this to his dear brother rather than to Denmark, but at this point, it is needed. Iceland sighs. "Go you want me to leave or not?" he asks, exasperated. Norway's words are entirely lost. "I don't. I mean, I don't want you to leave, but I- He- Ah, _knulle..._" The words that come flying out of his mouth aren't thought out at all, and, as a result, are severely distorted.

Iceland sighs again, uncertain as to what to say. "Just tell me what's wrong," he starts off shakily. "And get me a bandage or something. My arm's bleeding." He sets the IV needle down on his pillow, watching as his brother reaches into the bedside drawers and hands him a bandage. Norway then sits up and adjusts himself slightly, attempting to put his words together in a coherent sentence before starting off. "I... Well, you remember how I told the stupid Dane something before he..." he chokes, unable to say the word. "That thing was, well..." His voice lowers to the point where Iceland can barely hear it. "That thing was my crush on... well, you." Iceland is halfway through unwrapping the roll of bandage to put it on his arm when he freezes. "M-me?" he asks. "I... I thought it was just..." Norway cuts him off. "It's not," he says firmly. "But can we please not talk about this here?" The younger of the two lets out a shaky and almost relieved sigh. "Okay. Alright. Now can we please leave?" He finishes wrapping his wound up and looks over at Norway with tired eyes. "My head doesn't hurt anymore, and I don't want to stay here for too long..."

Norway nods. "Right." He feels as if an enormous anchor had been lifted off his chest as he got up, holding out his hand for Iceland to take. Lillebror takes it, gingerly getting to his feet and stumbling into his brother's arms. "Can't walk," he mumbles into Norway's chest, his foot laced with pain and his face burning with embarrassment. Big brother chuckles, gently pushing Iceland down onto the bed and scooping him up with ease. Was it just him, or was Iceland a bit lighter than he used to be?

For now he ignores the alarm that flares in his chest and kicks the door open, walking with Iceland to the front counter and clearing his throat to get the attention of the nurse who is standing there. Trying not to smirk at her bewilderment, he goes on. "Hi. We would like to leave, please." The nurse opens her mouth to say something but Norway interrupts, impatient. "My brother has recovered enough to leave, and we would like to go as soon as possible." The nurse frowns. "You may not leave before a doctor has officially released you," she says, surprise evident in her tone.

Norway had had it. Making sure he had a good grip on Iceland, he leaned forward and looked the nurse right in the eye. "Look. I am the legal guardian of this boy, and if you won't let us out, I _will _call the police," he growls softly. The nurse shrinks in her seat. "O-of course. What is the patient's name?" Norway smiles. _That's more like it. _"Emil Steilsson," he replies coolly, straightening back up. The nurse looks down her computer. "Right. Now let me go get his clothes. I doubt you want to go home like that." When Iceland nods the nurse smiles weakly and gets up and turns around, pulling his clothes out of a drawer and handing them to Iceland before sitting down in her chair and tapping away at her computer. Norway stifled a snort. "Takk," he says, gripping Iceland a bit tighter and making his way out to the parking lot and looking around in the dark for his car. Locating it, he walks towards it, opening the back door with some difficulty and putting Iceland in the seat. "Can you buckle yourself?" Norway asks.

Iceland scowls at him. "It's my foot that doesn't work, not my hands," he mutters, buckling up and crossing his arms. Norway smiles slightly, pushing the door shut and sliding into the driver's seat, putting the keys into the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot. "Once we get to my house, we can take care of your foot," he says, turning onto the main road. "Okay," Iceland replies. "Are _you _okay though, Noregur?"

Norway fidgets, laughing nervously, mirthlessly. "Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" he responded. Iceland shrugs. "I don't know. You just seem a little off." Having known Norway for over a thousand years now, Iceland could sense the slightest change in his brother's emotions, even under that mask of his. "Really?" Norway murmurs. "I'm fine, really. You need to pay more attention, I mean, because you think I'm not... okay..." His words once more came out in a jumble, so much so that Iceland could barely make out what he was saying. "There's something wrong," Iceland retorted. Norway scowls ever so slightly. "Nothing's wrong," he argued.

"You suck at lying."

"I'm not-" Norway sighed, closing his eyes as he pulled to a stop at a red light. "Alright, fine." Making sure the light was still red, he turned to face his brother. "It's my fault you fell. And now you're hurt, and now you know how I feel about you, and... You're getting worse, being around me." Iceland blinks. "It's green," he warns, causing Norway to turn rapidly back around in his seat. "Shit," he mutters. Someone from behind them honks as big brother finally accelerates. "I've been hanging around you all my life," Iceland continues. "Shouldn't I be horrible already?"

Norway shakes his head. "That's not the point!" he snaps. "Our love isn't... right. We're _brothers,_ Ice. No matter how much I love you, that's never going to change. So that makes this sin. It makes it bad, it makes me bad, and now I learn that _you're _getting bad..." He clenched his teeth and forced himself to keep driving straight. "It's not fair, it's not right..."

Iceland is thoroughly alarmed. Norway rarely shows this much emotion; the last time this happened was back in 1814 when he'd been forced, by Denmark, to go into a Personal Union with Sweden. He closes his eyes. "Calm down, Nor," he said quietly. "I know it's not right, but..." He blushes slightly as he goes on, flustered. "I still love you. That's not going to change either." Norway nods. "Y-yeah, alright. Why don't you... Get dressed, Ice?" Iceland nods. "Alright," he mutters, sitting back and grabbing his pants. He didn't want to show up anywhere dressed in a hospital gown, even if it was just his brother's house.

The brother in question drums his fingers on the wheel. "So, how are you?" he asks awkwardly, trying to make some sort of conversation that had nothing to do with anything else. Iceland snorts. "Fucking fantastic, storebror," he mumbles, pulling on his pants with some difficulty before pulling the hospital gown up over his head and reaching for his shirt. Norway chuckles for a second before he realizes. "Did you seriously just call me...?"

Iceland grunts, buttoning up his shirt. "Yeah. Storebror. Whatever. I thought it would cheer you up." _The stupidest things cheer you up, _he adds silently. _So childish. _Norway nearly swerves the car off the road in surprise, his eyes flying wide open. "It's helping," he lies. "Do you mind saying it again?"

"Mind your driving, storebror."

Norway clenches his teeth, slowly sliding one hand away from the wheel and onto his lap. He hadn't been expecting that. _Why did that...? _"Hey, don't you need to keep both your hands on the wheel to drive? Bit dangerous like that..." Iceland's words snap Norway out of it and he shakes himself. "I can handle it, stop the backseat driving," he says irritably, wincing as he realized he'd been driving half in the other lane the whole time. Iceland raises an eyebrow. "I thought you were good at driving, storebror." Was it because he wasn't saying it enough or something? Considering it might get them both killed if he didn't, Iceland decided to make it a point, to tack on _storebror _to every other sentence, as childish as it may be. "You aren't sick or anything?"

"No, I never get sick," Norway protests, biting back a moan and struggling to keep his voice (and the car, for that matter) straight. Iceland pulls his ribbon on and ties it, frowning. "Okay then, if you say so." Norway finally pulls into the driveway of his house, turning off the car. "We're here," he announces, pulling open his door and getting out before opening Iceland's door. "You can walk, yes?"

Iceland scowls. "You were so eager to carry me before, and now you expect me to walk?" he retorted. Norway grins apologetically. "Sorry," he mumbles. "I can't carry you." A lightbulb goes off in Iceland's mind. "So that's why you were only driving with one hand earlier. Your hand hurts and you refuse to tell me." He snorts. Typical Norway. "It's alright." He gets up from his seat and grits his teeth in pain, limping steadily towards the door. Norway winces again. He can't see Iceland struggling like that. "Yes, well, I... Oh, fuck it." He walks quickly towards Iceland, scooping him up, making sure to keep him above... A certain area. _So innocent... _"Hey!" Iceland exclaims surprised. "You really don't have to if your hand hurts..." Norway shakes his head. "Forget that. It's okay."

The younger nation sighs. "Alright. Can I have the keys, then? You can't really open the door like this." Norway nods, reaching into his pocket, causing Iceland to slip slightly. Norway jolts, nearly throwing the keys in shock. "Sorry," he says quickly, handing the keys to his brother. Iceland frowns. "No problem," he replied, shoving the key in the lock and turning it, pushing open the door. "There."

Norway nearly runs inside, setting Iceland none-too-gently on the couch before practically sprinting to the bathroom. Perhaps he could get some relief there.

But little brother, ever so curious, will not let him do that.

_Something's been off with Norway all day, _Iceland thinks. He wouldn't be this weird over being in love with anyone, even if that someone was his own brother. It was odd. Maybe he still felt guilty. Maybe he didn't. _Whatever. _Iceland couldn't take not knowing. He gets up slowly and limps rapidly in the direction of the bathroom occupied by his dear brother, putting his ear to the door.

Cue loud moan from Norway.

Iceland pulls away from the door, blushing heavily, realization dawning on him. Norway is touching himself. Touching himself off to thoughts of _him._ Of Iceland. The younger nation is backing away from the door when it opens, revealing Norway himself, whose eyes widen as he looks at his little brother. "Oh," he whispers stupidly. "You're right there."

He nearly shoves Iceland to the ground as he bolts away, his face blazing with embarrassment. Of all the ways Iceland could have found out about this, it had to be this way, didn't it? Iceland stumbled, hitting the wall before catching his breath and tearing after Norway as fast as his agonized foot could take him. Around the dining room, Norway skids to a halt to avoid the place, which is still littered with bits of broken plate; Iceland crashes into him and pushes his brother forwards before falling on top of him.

It would have been comical too, if Norway had not been running away from his brother just now. Iceland blushes. "Sorry," he mumbles, rolling off of Norway and allowing him to sit up before fixing him with a confused sort of glare. The older brother sighs. "How... how long were you standing out there?" he asks, not meeting Iceland's gaze but instead staring at his hands. "Long enough," Iceland mutters in reply. Norway nearly snorts but quickly thinks better of it. Putting his head in his hands, he continues. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. Iceland frowns. "What for?"

"Don't you know?" Norway shoots back, slightly annoyed. "I... Just... Don't call me storebror too much, okay?" Iceland stares at him for a few seconds before realizing. "That's... That's seriously why you-" His face reddens immensely and he breaks off. Norway looks up at him, grinning weakly. "I know. Bad." Iceland flinches as though he'd been slapped. "Stop that," he snaps. Norway shakes his head. "I'm sorry if it irritates you. Now let's... Let's go take a look at your foot." Without warning, he scoops Iceland up in his arms, causing the silver-haired nation to let out a yell of surprise. Ignoring this, he charges up the stairs and into the bathroom.

_Let's get this fixed._

* * *

"How'd your peace talk go?"

Estonia nearly jumped out of his seat at being talked to. It had been a long day around the Nordics, even if that had only lasted a few hours. It had scared him. Turning to Lithuania, the one asking the question, he sighed. "Peace talk?" Estonia scratched his head. "You really couldn't call it that." Lithuania raised an eyebrow, confused. "Why not?" he questioned.

Poland walked towards them, a grin on his face. "Were you scared?" he asks. Estonia was about to snap at him and say that there was no way he had been scared, but he quickly realized that was the exact opposite of what happened. "Maybe," he mumbled. Poland snorted. "I totally called it," he replied, sitting down next to Lithuania, who frowned. "Well, even though I understand your... predicament, we still need to make peace, don't we?" Estonia nodded. Poland looked at him. "What did you, like, see there?" he pressed. Estonia fidgeted. "W-well... There was England..."

Lithuania looked even more confused at this. "England was...? What happened to him?" The older Baltic shrugged. "He didn't look very good. He could barely talk and he had scratches all over him... When I asked what happened, he said Denmark beat him up..." Estonia shuddered inwardly as he remembered Denmark's axe in the bathroom. "There should be a way to get him out of there," Lithuania said quietly, interrupting Estonia's thoughts of blood. "Maybe he can help us."

"What was Finland like?"

Latvia had just popped into the room, sitting down on a chair a bit away from the others. Estonia frowned. "He acted like... Like what he was doing was normal. Like everything was fine." _Like the fact that his face looked like it had been made mincemeat out of,_ he added silently. _Perfectly normal for him, was it? _"What was he doing?" Latvia asked, curious. Estonia shrugged again. "Just talking, but what he was talking about wasn't normal. It didn't sound right."

Poland tapped his chin thoughtfully. "He didn't like, threaten to kill you or anything?" he asked. When Estonia shook his head, Poland laughed. "It's easy then! If you ask Finland for a peace treaty, and he agrees with you, then Sweden's going to have to agree, right?" Lithuania tipped his head to the side. "True," he said quietly. "But what if Finland refuses?" Poland rolled his eyes. "Why would he? Estonia's like, his best friend," he protested. "Anyway, when Sweden agrees, then Norway and Iceland will side with him, right?" When the Baltics just stared at him, Poland sighed frustratedly. "The Nordic Council? Like, hello? And, besides, they won't want to start a war because of their neutrality and stuff."

Estonia frowned at him. "What about Denmark, then?" he asked. Poland scowled at him. "What about him?" he retorted. "If all the Nordics are against him, he's got, like, nothing to do. He's gonna be with them, isn't he?" Lithuania sighed. "Don't be so sure of that. Denmark seems to be a bit... wild right now," he pointed out. "He has enough troops to potentially wipe out Sweden; he's done that before, too." Estonia looked up at him. "We have to try, don't we?" he said. "At least just request _some _sort of peace with them. If we don't, well, Finland's right above us..." He trailed off, not wanting to think about that.

"Who's going to ask?"

As soon as the question was out his mouth, all the other Baltics moved back a little, scared looks on their faces. In the end, Poland was the only one left. He rolled his eyes. "You guys are, like, totally scared crapless, aren't you?" he taunted. "Fine. Since I'm like the only one left, I'll go."

"Good luck!"

"Come back in one piece, okay?"

"Don't be too sassy, that might annoy them a little."

A flicker of fear passed through Poland's eyes. "Wh-what, I'm going now?" he stuttered out. Lithuania smiled a little. "Are you scared to go now?" He asked. Poland quickly shook his head. "Like, no way!" he said loudly. "I just kinda need to... Get ready..." He nervously gets to his feet and walks to the stairs that lead up to his room. When he gets there, Poland sits down on his bed, burying his head in his hands.

"If you don't want to go, I can."

Lithuania is standing there at the door, looking at his friend, with a slight frown on his face. Poland's head snaps up. "It's too dangerous to go alone, either way," Lithuania goes on. Poland blinks. "You suggesting you want to come with me?" he asks. "Like, no way! It's way too dangerous." Lithuania smiles. "I know, that's what I'm saying," he says. "It's your choice."

Poland frowns. "I can do this on my own," he replies, confused as to why Lithuania is asking him. "I'm not scared." Lying, of course, but he doesn't care. He doesn't want to seem vulnerable, especially in front of Lithuania. "You should, like, stay here and watch over everyone. I mean, what if Sweden shows up or something? He'd smash everyone to pieces if you aren't here." Lithuania considers it, knowing his friend is only saying this to keep his own dignity. "Alright, alright. Go ahead."

For now, he'll let Poland soldier on alone.

* * *

_Ah, sorry again for the silly lateness. School is eating me alive. Mid-Winter hellhole for the win (right?) Yes, I know that kink of Norway's is overused, but hey. It makes sense. Hopefully the next chapter will be up by Norway's birthday. (Because everyone knows when that is, right? It's not just me?) _

_I'll end with my Japanese practice (do not try to translate this. Google is silly when it comes to Japanese.)_

_ほら、アイス、アイス__!__ 本当に兄弟だから、"お兄ちゃん" と言うでしょうか？_

_何期待してんの？意味わないよ。_

_ああ、ください？_

_言わない。_

_お兄ちゃん？_

_なんだ？いや。_

_でも。。。この約束。。。_

_いや。やめて。_

_アイスランド。。。あなたの約束。。。_

_うるさい。ばか。_

_Nnn, one more thing. One of my friends was reading this (not this chapter) and the first thing she said when I asked how she liked it was "They're brothers!" Yes, yes, they are brothers. Russia and Belarus are siblings. I don't see many people complaining about that. And then people hate on NorIce... Well. Whatever. I can't stop them. Wish I could._

_Bless bless,_

_-Ice_


	7. Chapter 5

The sound of clicking came from the living room, ringing in Denmark's ears as he sat with his feet up on the dining table. Sealand sat in the other room, his eyes glued to the TV as he continued to race to the top of a mountain in a game he was playing.

Norway had promised to be back at Denmark's house by 8 that morning, and it was currently 3 in the afternoon. What could he be doing? A few hours ago, Denmark imagined that Norway had simply overslept, or maybe the traffic across the Øresund bridge to Copenhagen was bad, or something like that. But now he was beginning to worry, and not in the way he should be. The things in his mind were not things like _oh, maybe he got hurt, _or even _did the bridge break or something? _No. Nothing like that. _He's with that damned Icelander, isn't he?_

"Hey, Peter!"

Sealand hit pause and turned to the dining room. "Yeah?" he asked. Denmark smiled. "D'you think you can stay by yourself for a few hours?" he said, getting up and pulling his trench coat off of the banister and pulling it on. "I'm gonna go check on Uncle Norway." Sealand nods, grinning. "Okay!" Thankfully, the micronation was just enough of a gullible dumbass to trust his Uncle like that, and turned back to his game without a second thought as Denmark ran out the door to his car.

Thankfully, the coming-back-from-work traffic hadn't quite begun in Denmark yet, and so the route out of the country into Sweden was relatively empty. The tall nation grinned as he drove into Malmö, digging through the crap next to his seat before pulling out his phone and dialling Norway's number. A few seconds later, Norway's voice answered.

"_Hallo. If you are hearing this, I am unable to reach my phone right now. Please call again later, unless you are Denmark, in which case please throw yourself out of a window. Leave a message after the beep."_

Just his luck, huh? Of course Norway wasn't able to reach his phone, he was probably too busy fucking Iceland so hard neither of them heard the phone go off. What else would he be doing? Denmark didn't bother leaving a message; he was off to Oslo anyways. He simply ended the call and threw his phone into the passenger seat. Luckily, his axe was in the trunk; he'd taken it with him to Sweden's house the other day when he'd been picking Sealand up.

Hopefully he'd be able to put it to good use.

Around 6:15, Denmark finally crossed the border into Norway. He turned on the radio to hear the news from his _friend's _country. _"...The Norwegian government has lent the Government of Iceland around 4 billion kroner to help stabilize the Icelandic Króna, which has dropped in value due to the debt crisis there..." _Denmark scowled and turned it off again. Iceland didn't even have to go whining to his brother to get money anymore; Norway would readily give it to him, even it was Iceland's own fault he'd gotten into a crisis! Norway wouldn't care if the money he'd given pushed _him _into a crisis either, all that mattered his that his little brother was okay...

"Dammit," he murmured. He'd been going about 20 kilometres above the speed limit without even noticing, and now blue lights were flashing behind him. Groaning, Denmark pulled over to the side of the side of the road, rolling down the window and waiting for the policeman to chew him out about nearly running into the car in front of him.

To his surprise, the man that glared into his window was someone he recognized. "Netherlands? Jan? Buddy, 's that you?" The tall-haired nation scowled. "Damn right, Mathias. What the hell d'you think you're doing, going 90 kilometres per hour?" Denmark grinned apologetically, his blue eyes locking with Netherlands' green ones. "Hey, sorry, I didn't realize, I was calling Norway and I got-"

"You aren't supposed to be talking while driving," Netherlands growls. Denmark rolled his eyes. "You aren't supposed to be pulling people over, either, Ned," he retorted. "I thought you were in the homicide department?" Netherlands nods. "That's right, yes," he says impatiently, pulling out a blank violation ticket and a pen. "But as there's been no new cases recently, and my economy is pretty stable in this damn debt crisis thing, I'm taking a break and pulling over disrespectful assholes like you."

Denmark looked away sheepishly. "Aww, c'mon, don't fine me, I didn't realize you were gonna catch me!" Netherlands finishes filling out the ticket and sticks it to Denmark's forehead. "Yeah, I know, idiot. Maybe if you didn't go a million miles above the limit, I _wouldn't _catch you. It's 300 kroner, by the way." Denmark pouts and looks back up at Netherlands. "Why are you in Norway, anyway?"

The Dutchman shrugs. "Dunno. There's no way I was gonna go to your country, Sweden's being a dick to me after Belgium said Finland was cute, and Iceland's too far away..." He frowns. "Why?" Denmark smiled. "Just curious. Doesn't seem there's gonna be a murder here, though. Nor's pretty peaceful, you know."

Netherlands sighs. "Yeah. If I wanted homicide, I'd go to America, don't worry. Now go pay your fine. Don't speed." Denmark nods and the ticket falls off his face and into his lap. "Right, right. Bye, Jan!" He waved stupidly, waiting until Netherlands glared at him and stalked off before rolling up the window and continuing to drive to Oslo.

He reached the Norwegian capital within an hour, and pulled into the alley next to Norway's house around 8. There, he turned off his car and stayed absolutely still, watching as a car pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. Both Norway and Iceland were in the car, and Norway was yelling something about how the hospital wasn't that far away before pulling up the window and speeding off.

Denmark frowned. What had happened in that house to make them need to go to the hospital? He sighed. It was getting late, and he was far too tired to follow them.

So he waited.

And waited.

And at last, around midnight, the same car pulled back into the driveway, and the doors opened. "...Can't carry you," Denmark heard Norway mutter. "Sorry." Iceland replied, saying something Denmark couldn't hear before getting up and starting to limp towards the door, following which Norway swore and picked his brother up anyway. The door opened and shut, leaving Denmark alone again. A few minutes later, he heard footsteps thudding around inside and the sound of someone falling. And a few minutes after that, the light in the bathroom upstairs flicked on, and the window was thrown open. "There, lillebror, now there's some fresh air... The cut on your foot isn't that bad, I don't understand why you can't walk... No matter. Where are the bandages, do you know?"

Iceland mumbled something and Norway chuckled. Denmark looked up through the open window and saw the Iceland sitting on the counter- this is a big window, thank god, it takes up half the wall- and Norway kneeling in front of him with bandages in his hands, wrapping them around Iceland's foot. "There, all better, now let me just get the scissors, we don't want-" he stands up abruptly and finds himself face-to-face with his brother. Iceland gives him a _well, what are going to do? _kind of look, and a few seconds later, Norway leans forward and slowly closes the distance between them, kissing him softly at first but then much more hungrily as he seemed to give in to what he was doing. Iceland moans slightly and throws his arms around his brother's neck like the little _whore _he is, is pretending to be, only to catch his dear _Norway's _affection...

But luckily for Denmark, things were about to change.

Norway suddenly pulls away as if electrocuted, remembering what he's doing. His eyes are wide. Iceland groans, his eyes still shut as Norway leaves. Iceland frowns, opening his eyes, confused. "Not again," he murmurs, and gets up off the counter, wincing as he lands on his hurt foot and limps out of the room.

Denmark snorts. The Icelandic boy is acting like a slut who'd just been denied a fuck. He got out of his car and walked around the house to the other side where the light in Norway's bedroom was on. He saw the man's blonde head against the half-open window and smiled. Norway put a hand over his eyes and sits there for a few seconds when there is a knock on the door and a muffled call of "Noregur? Are you in there?" Norway stays still. "Maybe," he murmurs after a little while. The door flies open and Iceland comes in, and Denmark seethes silently in the alley below. "You're never going to get anywhere if you keep stopping like that-" He's cut off by Norway whose voice rises to a yell. "Well, who says I want to get anywhere, maybe I hate you for making me feel like this!" He takes a deep breath and goes on. "Did you ever think of that?"

Iceland snorts; Denmark can barely see him through the window as he crosses his arms and stands unsteadily in front of his brother. "Huh, that's funny," he said sarcastically. "I'm remembering the time where you said you could never hate me." Norway throws his arms up in exasperation. "Maybe I lied!" he yells; if Denmark had been in Iceland's place, he'd be terrified, but the silver-haired boy simply scowls and narrows his eyes. "I want you _away from me,_ I can't take it anymore, Ice! I was only ever touched by that _stupid _Dane, I don't deserve to be touched by anyone else, touch anyone else, much less you!"

Silence.

"Okay," Iceland says slowly; Denmark cannot tell if the time passed had been a few seconds or three hours. "I get it. I'm not wanted here." He turns towards the door. "Not wanted here anymore than Denmark. Alright. I'll just be going, then." The door slams behind him, and it is silent again for a time before Norway falls forward off of the windowsill.

He's crying, Denmark realizes. The ever-emotionless Norway is sobbing on the floor of his room, mumbling things in Norwegian that Denmark can neither hear nor understand. He hears the sound of a fist on wood and guesses that Norway is pounding the door out of fury. "What did I just do?" he says, just loud enough for Denmark to hear. "I just... Just lost him, didn't I?" There is the sound of wood splintering and the Dane below winces. _"Why _do I have to be so _stupid... _This is the reason the only person who's touched me is Denmark..." Norway leans against what is left of the door and slams his head against it. "So... So bad..."

Iceland, on the other hand, is halfway down the hallway when he hears the door splintering. He frowns and turns around to see his brother's fist where the bottom half of the door used to be. The Icelander frowns and walks towards it, sitting down in front of the door. "I c-can't believe I did th-that... bad... Bad... Bad... This is why things like this happen, I'm bad. I cause bad things... Fuck, he should know I didn't want him to leave... I don't want this... Emotions suck... Why do I have to love the Icelandic asshole, why does he have to love me, why do we have to be _brothers!_" Norway is screaming now, and Iceland flinches as Norway's fist pounds through the door again, only barely missing him. "I should just go _die, _maybe that'll solve things..."

"I don't want you to die."

Norway looks up. "Iceland?" he says, laughing shakily. "Y-you came back..." Iceland smiles sadly. "Never left," he mumbles. "If you died, who would take care of me? Denmark?" Norway shudders. "If he was to take care of me, how d'you think he'd do it, knowing the reason he... touched you? I care because I'm your little brother. It's weird when there's something wrong with you after all the times you took care of me when there was something wrong on my end. When you break down like this, it makes me feel horrible. And you don't deserve to die. If anyone, Denmark does for making you like this."

Norway puts his head back against the door. "But I... I l-love you... It's my fault, for loving you. Everything's to hell... If I n-never loved you, I wouldn't have t-to be fixed, I wouldn't h-have to die, but I did, and f-fixing doesn't work... So I-I... have to... d-die... I need to f-fix this, before this h-hell gets w-worse... B-but f-first..." He pulls the door open, grabs Iceland by the collar, and before the boy can complain, kisses him roughly, forcing his tongue in, his grip painfully tight, before shoving him away and shutting the door again, stifling another laugh as he slams his head against it. "That still felt amazing," he whispered. "So it wasn't just the... hard-on, huh?" He hits his head so hard against the door that it bruises. "F-fuck, why do you have to feel so good, Ice?"

"You're not going to die," Iceland snaps, flustered. "I will make sure of that." Norway really does laugh this time. "How?" he asks. Iceland suddenly pushes the door open, pushing Norway away from it before crawling forward to sit next to him. "I will find a way," he replies. "I don't want to live alone." He looks right into his brother's dull blue eyes, which, for the first time he can remember, are laced with emotion; with love and sadness all at once. It's heartbreaking to see him like this; Norway had alway been the stronger one, even now when he has been broken like this. "And if you die, there's no one to stop me from trying to kill Denmark and dying myself, is there?"

Norway wraps his brother in a tight hug, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "No matter what happens you can't do that. To know that you... It would be too much anyways. I couldn't have your death on my shoulders... The ax crazed maniac would-" he chokes suddenly and buries his head into Iceland's shoulder. "D-don't do it." Iceland sighs. "Just promise you won't leave me," he murmurs. It's childish, yes, but he needs to know. Norway sits up and looks straight at Iceland; the love in his eyes is beginning to triumph over the sadness. "To do so would be to go against everything we were taught that was right and wrong," he says slowly. "So you must promise me this; whatever happens, we'll be okay, not damned, not shunned, but okay." Iceland swallows. "We... We'll be fine. I know we'll be fine." Norway kept looking at him. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Norway smiles weakly. "Good." Iceland lets out a sigh of relief and rests his head in Norway's shoulder, his body facing the door. "I'm... I'm glad you're happy now," he whispered. Norway chuckles nervously. "Yeah, happy..." A worried look crosses his face as he looks out the window.

As quickly as he had appeared, Denmark was gone from the garden. "It's not fair, it's not right, he's mine, he shouldn't be sitting there with that damn Icelander. Not when he belongs with me. He can't still love that stupid purple-eyed freak, not after I showed him how much I care. Not after I warned him how wrong, how bad, it was to love him... Maybe if the Icelander is gone, he can love me! Yeah, yeah, that's right, Axe was thirsty anyways. He needed more blood, and I now have the perfect target..." he chuckled darkly before retreating back into the alleyway next to Norway's house.

* * *

_Sorry this is really short_

_Ah I feel stupid right now. I'm sorry. Just got back from SakuraCon and I had to type something, so I was like, "Relapse?" so I went and finished it. Yeah. Well. Now you understand Denmark..._

_-Haku _


	8. Chapter 6

Norway stares, still uncertainly, out the window. He'd sworn, for half a second, that he'd seen Denmark's wild hair and his blue eyes, and for that split second he was scared out of his mind- _What if he comes in here? I couldn't take Iceland seeing me like that, we wouldn't be able to hold him off, I wouldn't be able to escape..._

When Iceland talks again, Norway feels as if his voice is coming from the other side of the dilapidated door. "...As long as you're happy, I have no reason to try to kill Den, don't worry." Norway sighs. "Don't. I thought I just... No, just imagining. Shaken, that's all..." Iceland frowns. "What did you see?" he asked, alarmed. Norway shook his head. "Thought I saw Denmark, but I didn't. The night has strange creatures within it; I don't doubt I'm only seeing things."

Iceland narrows his eyes but does not say anything. "Alright," he mumbled at last. "I suppose you're right." Norway smiles weakly. "Yeah... Now, I know it's a bit late, but are you hungry?" he asks, changing the subject. Iceland nods almost a little too fast. "Yes," he says quickly. Norway chuckles softly and smoothes down his brother's hair. "Alright. I'll go make us some julekake, then? I don't have flour, but most stores are open until odd hours in the morning anyway..." He looks Iceland, who stares rather dully back. "I'm fine with it, yeah." Truth be told, he loves julekake, especially the way Norway makes it, but he will never admit that to him.

"Fine, go get the flour then," Iceland says. "I'm starving." Norway smiles a little wider, although Iceland can still see the worry in his eyes. "Of course, lillebror, right away." He presses a quick kiss to his cute brother's cheek and watches as he flushes bright red. "You're as red as your puffin's ribbon," he murmurs, amused. "Stay safe. You know my number, right?" Iceland rolls his eyes. "It's not like you made me memorize it or anything," he says, gesturing to the lump in the front pocket of his pants where his phone was. Norway smirks. "Smart of me, that was. Alright, stay safe, I'll be back..." Within a few minutes, he has grabbed his car keys and is out the door.

Iceland, on the other hand, segways into the bathroom and reaches far back into the bottom left drawer, pulling out a sharp knife. He lays it down and leans on the counter, contemplating himself in the mirror. His hair is okay, thanks to Norway's paranoid smoothing of it earlier. He pulls off his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, looking at the many little scars that littered them._ It's just the stress that gets to me_, he thinks. _Just the stress. _It's something a lot of troubled teens do, whether it's to let the stress bleed out or just to catch attention. Iceland raises the knife- What makes him want to do this again, he doesn't know- when there is a knock on the door.

He frowns. Surely Norway could not have finished that quickly? The older nation tends to take about twenty to thirty minutes to buy anything, and it's only been five. Shrugging, he puts the knife in his back pocket and pushes down his sleeves, running back into Norway's room and then down the stairs and to the front door.

"Hello, Icey! Here comes the awesome Den!"

Iceland's jaw dropped, his eyes wide. Denmark stood right outside the door, axe in hand, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Nice to see you again. Hope you don't mind me stopping by, I just wanted to congratulate you on stealing the man I love in a complete act of sin. For a gift I brought my axe. He is to be applied anywhere desired on the skin, causes extreme pain, and eventually, death. Good gift, yes?" He lifted the axe over his shoulder. "Want to start now?"

Iceland stood there for about three seconds before slamming the door shut, locking it, and sprinting back to Norway's room and throwing the door shut there as well. It was pitch dark in there; Iceland had turned the light off before he'd left. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone before rapidly dialling Norway. "Come on, please pick up, please, let him have his damn phone, let it work, it never works..."

In the store down the street, Norway tilted his head to the side. "Two packs of licorice for 40 kroner... Not bad... Hmm?" His phone vibrates in his pocket, and he pulls it out, seeing a picture of his brother and the name _Emil Steilsson _on the screen. He hits the answer button. "Hallo?"

"_Noregur? Hello? You need to get your ass back over here, Denmark's at the door, and-" _There is a dull thud of metal against wood, and Norway winces. _"-He's got his axe! Hurry it up!" _Norway opens his mouth to respond, but the line had cut; he drops the licorice and runs to the entrance of the store, digging in his pocket for his car keys and ignoring the confused gaze of the sleepy people around him as he gets into his car.

Denmark took a second swing at the door. The door splintered wider, giving him enough room to stick his hand through and unlock the door. "Lucky me Norge lives so reclusively, ja? We can play without anyone bugging us!" He started to fiddle with the handle, having a hard time opening a door he couldn't see.

Iceland winces as he hears the door unlock. "Dammit," he mumbles. "And I couldn't have thought to go with him, could I?" He was sitting in the corner of the room with his head ducked down in between his knees. Denmark unlocked the door and flung it open, causing it to shatter as it hit the wall hard. "Now that that's out of the way, Icey, I can finally repay you for taking Norge from me..." He started walking through the house. "Icey... Icey... Come out and play~!" Iceland kept absolutely silent, trying not to shake. "It's okay," he whispered. "Keep calm, Noregur will be here soon, hopefully..."

Luckily for him, Norway had already pulled into the driveway (going at least 30 kilometres over the speed limit, but thankfully he wasn't caught) and was sprinting to the door. Denmark frowned at the sudden light from the driveway. "No! Why is he back already? That little shit must've called him!" He slammed open all the doors until he found Iceland in Norway's room. "Hah, there you are, fucking Icelander. Time to use a little trick I learned a few years ago..." He took off his tie, sitting on the Icelander and tying his hands together, before gagging his mouth. "Good thing _loving Nor_ taught me a few things, huh?" He snorted "Get ready for a show, fucking Icelander. You're about to break." He grinned mischievously as Norway burst into the room. "Denmark, get away from Iceland._ Now._" The Dane chuckled darkly. "Love me and I'll let him live."

_"What?" _

"Love me and I'll let him live."

Iceland looked pleadingly up at his older brother. _How is he going to get out of this one?_ he thought, shuddering in Denmark's grip.

Then an idea hit him.

Norway looked at his brother and caught the pleading look. "I-I... You can't make me love you, you know... After all these years of touching me and surrounding me without my permission, I couldn't... I'll do anything possible for you to let Ice live, though..." Denmark thought for a moment. "I want nothing but for you to love me... Become one with me, marry me, live together with me and you will grow happy, grow to love me. That's what I want..." he placed a hand on Iceland's neck and pushed. "Or he dies."

Iceland choked a bit as Denmark pushed him back, but his mind was set: when he'd been running out Norway's room earlier, there'd been a knife in his pocket, but it seemed to have fallen out in the process of him going down to the kitchen. The knife sat about two feet away from him now, just within reach of his foot. If Norway could distract Denmark enough, he could get the knife, cut himself free, and get rid of that murderous bastard once and for all. But _how_, he wondered, was he going to communicate that plan to his brother?

"Okay, if I go with you, you let him go?" Norway asked slowly. Denmark laughed. "Yes, yes, of course! Unless he decides to tell on us," he adds. Norway nearly choked. "Us...?" he asked, confused. Denmark grinned, tugging on the tie a little. "Why yes, of course. This is your tie, covered in your DNA. They're going to assume you helped, if he tells. Not to mention the added bonus of the head and foot injuries. You're very bad. You're an abusive brother..." Norway was a bit taken aback by this. "Ab-busive... Me?" Denmark chuckled softly. "Yes, bad, bad Nor... Bad Nor. Now, if you come with me and he stays silent, we all will be okay. Okay?" Iceland was completely rigid. Norway hadn't done anything but help him since... Forever, actually. He was going to have to get rid of Denmark, it was certain now. His foot slowly slid outward. Iceland kept his eyes trained on his brother, willing him to see what he was doing and to help him.

Norway glanced over at Iceland, and met his eyes once more. He noticed his foot trying to reach for the knife. He did the first thing he could think of, though admittedly it was quite stupid. He ran up and _kissed_ his One True Hate. The Dane went off of Iceland immediately in surprise, gripping on to Norway tight to make sure he didn't move away.

Iceland sighed in relief. As much as he hated to see Norway pressed up against Denmark like that, it gave him his chance to escape. He grasped the knife with his toes, pulling it towards him and praying that it wouldn't slip. Thankfully, it didn't, and he fell over on his side, grabbing the knife with his left hand and beginning to slice apart Norway's tie. When his hands were free, he pulled the gag away and got up, slowly creeping behind Denmark, now utterly disgusted by what the Dane was doing to his brother. That was Norway in his bloody hands, Iceland's love, not his, he never was.

He takes a deep breath and plunges the knife into Denmark's back.

* * *

Sealand is still sitting on the couch where Denmark had left him a few hours ago. It is far past his bedtime, but with no parents or uncle to get him to bed, he sat in front of the TV- which was off, actually- bored out of his mind. He wondered, briefly, why Denmark was taking so long. _Maybe the traffic's just bad. Maybe he was speeding or something. _He really wondered more why Sweden had let him come here... Maybe it was because Denmark had helped him exact revenge on England, but why let his only son go over to the house of an estranged ex-viking?

Well, then again, that's what Finland was, Sealand realized. And Sweden still loved him. He shrugged and lay down on the couch with a frown on his face. Maybe he would call his momma and see if he knew where Denmark had gotten to... Or maybe not. Finland said that he and Sweden were doing something special, and Sealand knew from experience not to disturb them when _that _was happening.

Everything goes to crap when there's a knock at the door.

Denmark, maybe? But why would he knock? Maybe he lost the keys... He's silly like that. So, yawning, Sealand gets up and walks to the door, throwing it open and looking up to see those trademark eyebrows.

"England?"

And everything goes dark.

* * *

_Geh so short_

_I apologize, but at least it was fast right? And double cliffy! I'm sorry, you must hate me... Everyone hates me *Cries* Eh That's my problem. *Smiles* Yeah. Heheh. BRAVE ICELAND IS BRAVE. _

Iceland sighed, swinging his legs back and forth as he sat on the counter in the bathroom and watched his brother dig around in the cabinet for bandages to close the wound on his foot with. "Found them. There's a lot of random things down there, I'm sorry about that..." Norway leans forward and unwraps the roll of bandage, avoiding his brother's gaze, a light pink still tinting his cheeks from the incident a few minutes before. Iceland shakes his head. "No matter," he mumbles. The air from the open window makes him shiver, but he deals with it; Norway had opened it for fresh air.


End file.
